Key Suspect Surrenders in Slayings of Two Officers : Violence: The man police say is ‘the shooter’ who killed Compton policemen gives himself up after a pre-dawn manhunt fails to find him.

A man described by authorities as “the shooter” in the killing of two Compton police officers surrendered Tuesday, several hours after law enforcement officers made a series of pre-dawn raids searching for him at homes from San Pedro to Watts.

Regis Deon Thomas, 22, accompanied by KTLA television reporter Warren Wilson, turned himself in about 10 a.m. at the Carson sheriff’s station. He was booked on suspicion of two counts of murder in the Feb. 22 deaths of officers Kevin Michael Burrell and James Wayne MacDonald, Compton Police Chief Hourie L. Taylor said.

Thomas and Wilson had met by prearrangement in a parking lot at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts. Three hours earlier, officers had unsuccessfully sought him there at what was said to be his mother’s home.

A cousin of Thomas said in an interview that she talked with him by phone just before he surrendered and that he seemed bewildered by the police search for him. Thomas denied having any part in the slayings, the cousin, Tina Thomas, said.

Wilson also said that Thomas denied involvement in the shootings.

But Chief Taylor told a news conference: “We are elated at the progress of this investigation. We have the person who we believe to be the shooter in custody.”

Sheriff Sherman Block, standing alongside Taylor at Compton City Hall, said the surrender resulted from raids on homes of people close to Thomas by officers from Compton, the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s deputies.

“The heat was really on,” Block said.

Thomas had been brought in for questioning earlier in the investigation. He was released then for lack of evidence, Block said. Neither Block nor Taylor would say whether other suspects are being sought, nor would they give other details of the investigation.

Thomas’ arrest was the sixth surrender in a case that Taylor called “the most tragic in the history of Compton.” The other five men were arrested in unrelated crimes, but investigators also sought to question them about the police shootings. Only Thomas has been specifically accused of direct involvement in the officers’ deaths.

Deputy District Atty. Mark Arnold, who has been working with a five-agency task force on the case, will present the evidence against him to superiors in the district attorney’s office today, authorities said.

Burrell, 29, a five-year veteran well known throughout Compton, began his career in law enforcement at the age of 15 as a police Explorer Scout. MacDonald, 23, had been a Compton reserve police officer two years. He was working his last shift when he died. He had been hired by the San Jose Police Department and planned to start March 8.

The officers were shot after they stopped a red pickup truck near Rosecrans and Dwight avenues.

Witnesses have told investigators that the occupants of the truck appeared to struggle with the officers before one pulled a gun and fired. Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests, but both fell to the ground, according to the witnesses. The killer then fired several bullets into the officers’ heads, the witnesses said.

The officers were the first to be slain in the history of the Compton police force.

The gun has been identified by law enforcement sources as a 9-millimeter Luger. Neither Block nor Taylor would say if it had been found. A source, however, told The Times that the gun played a key role in making Thomas a suspect.

An aspect of the case that has puzzled investigators is the officers’ failure to inform the police dispatcher before they got out of their car. It is a routine procedure, which would have given investigators the license number of the truck.

Block and Taylor said the vehicle was in custody but would provide no other details about it.

Tina Thomas, Regis Thomas’ cousin, said he has a friend who owns a red pickup. The friend is in jail, she said.

She said that Regis Thomas sometimes drove the vehicle but that others also did.

Thomas’ girlfriend was arrested in San Pedro on a charge unrelated to the police shooting, Tina Thomas said. She said Thomas’ concern over his girlfriend prompted him to surrender more than any other factor.

Tina Thomas said her cousin was unemployed.

According to court records, Regis Thomas has no felony convictions in Los Angeles County.

He was arrested and charged with murder last year in the Jan. 31, 1992, shooting death of Carlos Adkins in South Los Angeles. Thomas was in jail without bail for four months before the case was dismissed.

Community correspondent Emily Adams contributed to this story.