Man Reveals Little in Officer-Slaying Case : Investigation: Potential witness fails to provide a breakthrough in Garden Grove shooting. Meanwhile, students buoy spirits of police and firefighters.

Investigators spent Wednesday interviewing a man they thought might have key information about last week’s slaying of a police officer, but they turned up less than they had expected. Detectives spent hours interviewing a man in his mid-20s who had been arrested on unrelated warrants about 7:45 a.m. by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy. The deputy knew that the man was wanted for questioning in connection with the March 9 shooting of Officer Howard E. Dallies Jr., apparently during a routine traffic stop.

Garden Grove Capt. David Abrecht refused to identify the man but said he was one of several potential witnesses police are seeking, because others have said those people have information. Abrecht said a suspect hasn’t been identified.

“There’s still a feeling that we’re progressing; it’s just been slow going because of the way the incident occurred and the difficulty with getting solid, hot leads,” Abrecht said. Television solves crimes “in an hour, (but) it just doesn’t happen that way,” he said. “It may be days, weeks, months before we come up with something. It’s real frustrating.”

Police would not specify what, if anything, the man knew about the crime, but it was less than they hoped.

Meanwhile Wednesday, students at Excelsior Elementary School drew pictures and wrote thank-you notes for the city’s police officers and firefighters to boost their spirits after the death of Dallies.

“Right now we really need someone to tell us that we’re appreciated, especially after what happened last week,” Officer Marcos Elizondo said at the school. “This really means a lot to us to have these kids tell us they appreciate us.”

Standing under homemade banners that read, “We’ve got the luck of the Irish to have you” and “Garden Grove police--we think you’re great,” Firefighter Jim Maguire on Wednesday told students at Excelsior: “It’s been a real tough time and this kind of gives you hope that maybe kids are being shown what’s right and wrong.”

Ricardo Garcia, 12, handed a police officer a note that said: “Thank you for stopping the violence and making Garden Grove safe.”

Fire Captain Dennis Kirksey, who played handball with a group of third-graders, said the day’s events, which included classroom tours and a kite-flying contest, lifted his morale.

“This makes you feel that we’re liked and that people like to have us around,” he said. “It makes you feel good and makes you forget about some of the problems and the hard times.”

About two dozen detectives remain on the case full time, following tips from the community and searching for people, like the man interviewed Wednesday, who are rumored to have information about the crime.

The Garden Grove City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to double the Police Department’s reward of $10,000 for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.

Abrecht said the support from the community, including the Excelsior schoolchildren, has helped numb the sting of Dallies’ death as the days pass.

“There’s a little more laughter and a little more banter in the department,” he said Wednesday evening. “But it’s obvious that it’s still having a real impact on us, and it will for a long time. The pain may subside, but Howard’s going to be missed.”