Information Swap Led to Arrest of Shooting Suspect

A man arrested Thursday night in the April 24 robbery and shooting of a retired Buena Park police captain became a suspect after robbery detectives swapped information at a meeting, said a Buena Park police spokesman.

Officer Richard McMillen would not give details of the information that was traded, but said it led to the identification of Jerry Dean Dunham, 28, of Anaheim as the person who twice shot and seriously wounded retired Capt. Robert Coovert, 57, in Coovert’s florist shop in the 6000 block of Orangethorpe Avenue in Buena Park on April 24.

Coovert, who was with the Buena Park Police Department 11 years before he retired, has undergone surgery to remove his liver and spleen and to repair damage to his left eye, McMillen said. Coovert remained hospitalized Friday in good condition at United Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, McMillen said.

Dunham is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail on suspicion of armed robbery and attempted murder.

Coovert was shot once in the head and once in the chest in Garrick’s Flowers after he refused to give a robber his money and his wife’s purse. Coovert said later he “went for” the robber, thinking the man was wielding a toy gun. Coovert’s wife, Betty, was unhurt.

The robber fled after the shooting, getting away with $50 in cash.

Coovert and his wife have operated the flower shop since 1973, when Coovert took a disability retirement from the Buena Park force.

At the Anaheim motel where Dunham was arrested, neighbors said he lived alone and kept to himself. One neighbor, who asked that his name not be used, said Dunham had told him that he was an electrician.