Officer Kills Two Others, Then Himself

A Friday afternoon shooting in suburban La Mesa left three off-duty police officers dead, one by his own hand--an extraordinarily bloody moment in the history of Southern California law enforcement that authorities believe was sparked by the jealous rage of a Los Angeles police officer.

Sources said the killer appears to have been a recently hired Los Angeles Police Department officer named Guillermo Delacruz, 29, who worked patrol in the agency’s Southeast area.

Authorities believe Delacruz had been romantically involved with a female El Cajon officer but grew outraged when she struck up a relationship with another El Cajon officer. The El Cajon officers were identified as Patricia Garcia, 26, a rookie, and Mark Amato, 33, a reserve officer for several years before becoming a full-time officer last year. Just after noon Friday, Delacruz apparently shot them both, then turned his gun on himself, completing a double-murder-suicide believed to be unparalleled in the modern annals of Southern California law enforcement.

The killings rocked three police departments. As La Mesa began its grim investigation, El Cajon reeled from the loss of two officers in one day, and the LAPD sent its officer-involved shooting team and a top member of Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ staff to offer its help. LAPD Internal Affairs investigators also traveled to La Mesa to conduct their own probe.

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Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker, the commanding officer of the LAPD’s South Bureau, choked back tears Friday afternoon as he waited for a helicopter to fly him to the scene of the shootings.

“This is the worst of all worlds here,” Kroeker said. “For us to lose one of our officers, and for another agency to lose two of theirs at the same time--it doesn’t get much worse.”

Kroeker, who described the afternoon as a “crisis moment” for LAPD officers, added that counselors already were offering assistance to officers in the Southeast area, where Delacruz had worked since graduating from the Police Academy about a year ago.

In El Cajon, counselors were dispatched to help police officers and their families cope with the tragedy, which is unlike any in the department’s history. The department has never had an officer killed in a shooting or in any kind of on-duty incident.

At Los Angeles police headquarters, top brass scrambled to clarify details of the shooting, to notify city officials of the incident and to puzzle grimly over how a promising young officer--a source said he graduated near the top of his academy class--could have disintegrated so quickly.

“Why did he do this?” one high-ranking official asked rhetorically. “Why does anyone do this?”

The department declined official comment beyond confirming that the shooter was Delacruz.

“We’re all very down here, overwhelmed by a sense of loss and helplessness,” said El Cajon Capt. Bill McClurg. “This is a tightly knit department--we all know each other, and we all feel like family. This is the worst kind of grieving.”

The shootings occurred in a quiet, middle-income neighborhood in La Mesa, a suburb east of San Diego, dotted with small homes and manicured lawns. Delacruz and Garcia had apparently lived there for the past month, and neighbors said they often saw her running with her dog.

Garcia and Delacruz also were frequently seen roller-blading, neighbors said.

In the past week, however, Delacruz was seen moving his belongings out, and Amato was seen visiting the house, according to residents of the neighborhood.

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Then, at 12:11 p.m. Friday, 911 dispatchers in La Mesa received a desperate call from a woman at the house. She said only: “I need help.”

La Mesa police--at the house within five minutes--discovered a gruesome scene. Garcia and Delacruz were in one bedroom, with Garcia lying on her back and Delacruz sprawled on top of her.

Amato was found in a second bedroom, lying on a bed. There was “a lot of blood in the house,” a police spokesman said, adding that there were indications of a fight. A 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol and a large number of shell casings were found.

The gun, according to police, was found at Delacruz’s feet.

For the 129-member El Cajon Police Department, Friday’s slayings were a devastating blow. Officers hugged outside the house where the bodies lay; some were in tears; some wore dazed and sad expressions.

Neighbors and others seemed stunned.

“They were such good young people,” said Roy Williamson, who rented the house to Delacruz and Garcia. “Very moral and clean. It’s just hard to believe they could die like this.”

“They were always lovey-dovey,” Williamson added. “They loved being cops.”

For the LAPD, meanwhile, the shootings represent the latest bad news for an agency that sometimes seems unable to shake itself out of the headlines.

“Terrible, terrible, terrible,” one police officer muttered as he learned of the news.

“Hard to imagine how it could be worse,” another added.

At the Southeast station, word spread slowly but inexorably.

“You gotta be kidding!” Officer Chris Cervantes exclaimed when he learned the news.

Station officials declined comment, but Kroeker said officers were struggling with their emotions.

Few details were immediately available about Delacruz, who was hired by the LAPD on April 17, 1995. He graduated from the Police Academy seven months later, and was assigned to the Southeast area.

Several academy instructors said they had no specific recollection of him, but a source familiar with the case said Delacruz was an ex-Marine who graduated near the top of his class at the academy. Other people who knew him said he was a member of the Air National Guard and hoped to transfer to the El Cajon Police Department once he finished his probation with the LAPD.

McBride said he knew of no blights on Delacruz’s record--probationary officers can be fired for relatively minor offenses--and Kroeker said nothing odd had come to his attention.

Newton reported from Los Angeles, Perry from San Diego. Times correspondents Mike Krikorian and Paul Levikow also contributed to this article.