Suspect in LAPD Officer’s Shooting Still at Large

A gunman who allegedly kidnapped his estranged wife in Corona on Sunday and shot and critically wounded the woman’s boyfriend--an off-duty Los Angeles police officer--remained at large Monday, authorities said.

An all-day search for the suspect, Curtis Hemphill, 30, focused on an abandoned military housing complex near March Air Force Base, where Hemphill’s getaway car was found and where his former wife, Keri Hemphill, 25, was rescued late Sunday night.

But by nightfall Monday--after a futile, daylong search of nearly 300 former military housing units--the hunt was given up by about 60 SWAT officers with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the Corona Police Department.

Vernon Ward, 31, a 6 1/2-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, remained on life support Monday and was listed in extremely critical condition at Riverside General Hospital.

Ward, who worked about six years out of the department’s Hollenbeck Division before transferring this summer to traffic enforcement as a downtown Los Angeles motorcycle officer, underwent surgery Sunday afternoon for a single gunshot to the front of his head.

Ward had taken his 4-year-old son to visit Keri Hemphill and her two young children Sunday and was shot by Hemphill’s estranged husband, in full view of the three children, Corona police said.

Curtis Hemphill then kidnapped the woman, drove to March Air Force Base, tied her up and shot her in the hand, Corona police said. His car was spotted by Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and, seeing law enforcement converge on the area, Keri Hemphill ran from a building into officers’ arms, said Corona Police Sgt. Shawn Dredla.

Keri Hemphill was listed in stable condition Monday at Riverside General Hospital, suffering from a gunshot wound to her hand, cuts, scrapes and bruises.

But deputies were unable to find Curtis Hemphill. “It’s very possible he could have fled the area before we even got here,” said Riverside Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Lohman.

One officer reported hearing what he described as a muffled gunshot, fueling speculation that Hemphill might have sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But Lohman said the noise may have been unrelated to the incident.

Los Angeles police officers described Ward as a popular, gregarious and funny officer who worked various assignments in the Hollenbeck Division--including bicycle patrol--before winning a long-sought promotion to become a traffic enforcement officer on motorcycle.

“That was his dream, to become a motor cop,” said Officer Vince Aguirre, who worked with him. “He had a gift of working with people, and to him, traffic enforcement was a way to cut down on traffic accidents, to make the streets safer.”