Mystery Killing of Officer Ends Deadliest Year : Pomona: About half of the murders in 1989 were connected to gangs in some way, police say.

The deadliest year in Pomona’s history ended last weekend with the murder of an off-duty state correctional officer who was found shot in his car.

The shooting death raised the number of homicides in the city during 1989 to 44, the highest ever recorded in a San Gabriel Valley city in one year. Pomona’s previous high was 35 in 1987.

“It’s been a banner year,” said police Sgt. Elias Valdez. “I hope we don’t have another one.”

The last murder of the year was as inexplicable as the entire surge of violence that raised Pomona’s murder rate to 3.7 per 10,000 residents. By comparison, the city of Pasadena, which has 12,000 more residents than Pomona’s population of nearly 120,000, had 18 murders last year, a rate of 1.4 per 10,000.

The year’s last homicide occurred in the 600 block of Medina Street, in a residential neighborhood not far from Cal Poly Pomona and across from an elementary school.

Rodney Sykes, 27, a correctional officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino, was shot in his car at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Valdez said residents heard shots being fired and found Sykes sprawled on the front seat of his car, which was parked in the middle of the street with the engine running. Valdez said Sykes was shot several times in the chest with a small-caliber gun. The coroner’s office is expected to conduct an autopsy today.

Police discounted robbery as a motive because Sykes still had his wallet containing $200. Valdez said police are exploring a number of leads but have not established a motive for the shooting.

Ron Blakely, public affairs officer at the men’s prison in Chino, said there is no evidence the murder is connected with Sykes’ employment as a correctional officer. “He hadn’t reported any threats or anything against him,” Blakely said.

Sykes had worked at the correctional facility since December, 1986.

Police Capt. Richard Shaurette said about half the Pomona murders last year were connected to gangs in some way. He said gang members shot each other over “anything from one gang member giving another a bad look to hassles over selling dope.”

Last year began badly with eight homicides in January. It ended with two in December, a fact Shaurette found somewhat encouraging.

Shaurette said the state’s ban on the sale of assault rifles seems to be helping to curb violence. At the beginning of 1989, he said, police saw a large number of assault rifles on the street. That number has diminished, he said, since people can no longer walk into a gun shop and buy an assault rifle off the shelf.