Officers Will Pay Tribute to Deputy Killed in Siege

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department prepared to honor a slain deputy today as police continued to piece together facts in a bloody, 12-hour weekend siege in Escondido that resulted in the death of the officer and a gunman.

Lonny Brewer, 29, a deputy for seven years, will be eulogized during a memorial service at 10 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley. He was killed Saturday when he and other members of the department’s Special Enforcement Team were met by gunfire as they stormed the apartment of Robert Gary Taschner, 37.

Taschner was killed by police as he ran from his apartment firing a semiautomatic assault rifle as officers prepared to again storm the apartment.

Point-Blank Shot

Television news tapes showed a deputy sheriff firing his pistol point-blank at Taschner’s head as he was being held on the ground. A coroner’s office report said Taschner suffered numerous gunshot wounds to the head, torso and extremities in the deadly finale of the shoot-out.

Taschner’s family has charged that deputies used excessive force, but sheriff’s spokesmen said the shot dramatically recorded on television was justified but declined to explain pending completion of the investigation.

Brewer is survived by his wife of three weeks, Kathy, who is also a deputy. Friends said Brewer was quiet, reserved and a solid lawman.

“He was a very, very reliable deputy, there when you needed him,” said Sgt. Rich Hendrickson, Brewer’s supervisor when both were assigned to the department’s Poway office.