3 Arrested in Probe of Compton Police Killings : Raid: Two men and woman seized in Anaheim are believed to have harbored fugitive sought in 1992 murder and possibly linked to officers’ slaying.

Three people believed to have harbored a fugitive who may be connected to the Feb. 22 slayings of two Compton police officers were arrested during a massive raid at an apartment house here Thursday afternoon, police said.

The arrests came five days after Compton police received a tip that “prime suspects” in the shooting deaths of officers Kevin Michael Burrell, 29, and James Wayne MacDonald, 23, were hiding somewhere in Orange County.

Compton Police Lt. Joe Flores said the two men and a woman arrested at the Casa Madrid apartments in the 2300 block of E. Ball Road at about 2 p.m. Thursday are believed to have harbored a man wanted in the 1992 murder of a woman in Compton.

“We feel like he (the wanted man) had some information on the Burrell-MacDonald murders and may be connected somehow,” Flores said.

The two men and a woman, all of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were led in handcuffs to a waiting police car after they were arrested without incident in a first-floor, two-bedroom apartment.

Police said the three were driven directly to the Compton Police Department headquarters, where they were being questioned about the man wanted in the 1992 slaying and his connection to the deaths of Burrell and MacDonald. The two officers were killed after they stopped a red pickup for an apparent traffic violation at an intersection in Compton.

None of those arrested Thursday were identified by police. Neither was the fugitive wanted in the 1992 killing of the woman. Police say they have identified one of the two men sought in the slayings of the policemen, but investigators have not revealed his identity or said whether he may be the man wanted in the 1992 homicide.

Witnesses said dozens of heavily armed officers from the Compton Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Anaheim Police Department converged on the apartment complex shortly before 2 p.m.

“There was cops everywhere,” said Jesse Escalera, 15, who was visiting friends in the complex. “They lined the path in front of the guy’s door. They all had masks and big old rifles. Dude, it was crazy!”

The three people arrested offered no resistance, officers said. After the three were led away, police searched the apartment, recovering an unloaded shotgun, phone records and other materials. Whether the man who lives in the apartment was one of those arrested Thursday was not immediately clear.

Compton’s Lt. Flores said the three will be charged with being accessories after the fact in the 1992 murder. Flores did not identify the slain woman or provide information about her death.

Police also went to two locations in Tustin on Thursday in the continuing search for information about the killings of Burrell and MacDonald, but no other arrests were made.

Investigators say Burrell and MacDonald stopped a red Chevrolet pickup truck at Rosecrans and Dwight avenues at about 11 p.m. on February 22 for a “possible traffic violation of suspicious circumstance.”

“The officers . . . didn’t call dispatch . . . and didn’t pull their weapons,” Compton Police Chief Hourie Taylor said two days later. “They (apparently) felt somewhat at ease. . . . The officers were probably very familiar with the occupants of the vehicle.”

Witnesses told investigators that the officers were “patting down” the two occupants of the truck to see if they were carrying weapons when one of the men produced a 9-mm semiautomatic pistol and opened fire.

After the two wounded officers fell to the ground, they were shot several times in the head, execution-style, before they had a chance to pull their guns from their holsters, police said. The suspects then fled in their truck.

As news of the killings spread, dozens of law enforcement agencies offered help.

The Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI joined the massive manhunt. Some of the officers working on the case were off-duty and volunteered their time. Many placed black ribbons of mourning over their badges.

MacDonald, a reserve officer recruited from Cal State Long Beach in 1991, was working his final day with the department when he was slain. He had been hired by the San Jose Police Department and had been scheduled to start work there next Monday.

Burrell, a full-time officer since 1988, had joined the department as a 15-year-old Explorer Scout. He was described as a devoted policeman who knew every street, and seemingly every resident, in Compton, a city of 90,000. “He was very friendly . . . a very loving kid,” said Compton Police Lt. Gary Smith.

Mourners overflowed a Compton church on Monday as the 6-foot, 7-inch Burrell was eulogized as a “gentle giant,” committed to his community and to law enforcement. Among those attending the memorial service at the Double Rock Baptist Church were Gov. Pete Wilson, Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams.

Most of those who spoke at the service made remarks supportive of police and their work, but the politically charged comments of Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore caused subsequent controversy.

Some of those who attended the service said they were offended when Moore mentioned the beating of motorist Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police and when she implied that police and prosecutors were responsible for the incarceration of hundreds of innocent African-American men. The Compton Police Officers Assn. has asked Moore to resign.

Services for MacDonald were held Saturday in San Jose.

Times staff writer Jon Markman in Anaheim contributed to this story. Adams reported from Anaheim and Malnic from Los Angeles.