Prison Officer Shot, Killed on O.C. Onramp

While her husband and 10-year-old stepdaughter watched helplessly, an off-duty California corrections officer was shot and killed on a darkened freeway ramp after an apparent late-night altercation along the Riverside Freeway spiraled out of control, police said Sunday.

The assailants were described only as four men in a large, dark-colored car. Police are asking for assistance from anyone who might have seen any part of the chase and shooting late Saturday night.

Elizabeth Ann Begaren, 40, was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center in Orange after she had been shot at least twice, police said. She lived in Lancaster and had been a state corrections officer since 1989, beginning her assignment at the California State Prison-Los Angeles County in Lancaster in 1993.

To co-workers, she was known as a “bubbly” and well-liked officer, and her death was being mourned at the prison facility where she worked. A flag flew at half-staff, and her corrections department colleagues wore black bands across their badges in her honor. Even inmates expressed sorrow.

Begaren is the sixth Southern California law enforcement officer shot since New Year’s Eve, a figure that has law officials clearly disturbed.

“It may be that officers tend to be more assertive” in the face of potential trouble, said Sgt. Joe Vargas of the Anaheim police, grappling for an explanation. “They pay us to solve problems, not run away from them.”

Vargas stressed that there was no evidence linking Begaren’s job to her shooting. He said it was being treated by police Sunday as a “random act of violence,” like other examples of so-called “road rage” violence plaguing the nation’s motorists.

Details of the tragedy remained sketchy on Sunday. Police did not reveal who was driving the blue 1996 Kia Sportage, a small sport-utility vehicle, or what ignited the altercation later described by her husband.

They said Begaren, her husband, Nuzzi Begaren, and his 10-year-old daughter were headed east on the Riverside Freeway about 11 p.m. Saturday when the altercation began. Police did not know whether shots were fired during a chase that Vargas said lasted for “quite a distance” along the freeway.

The occupants of the Kia evidently tried to evade their pursuers by getting off the freeway at East Street in Anaheim about 11:15 p.m. Vargas said they might have thought they could defuse the situation by exiting the freeway.

But the car driven by the assailants continued the chase, following the blue Kia off the freeway, across East Street and onto the entrance ramp that leads back onto the freeway. The assailants overtook the Begaren family on the entrance ramp and forced the Kia to stop. Vargas said Begaren stepped from her car and four men stepped out of the large, dark-colored car in front. Several shots rang out, and Begaren fell to the pavement.

Vargas said a passerby saw the aftermath of the deadly confrontation and called 911 to report the incident to the California Highway Patrol. CHP dispatchers notified police in Anaheim and Fullerton, both of which abut the Riverside Freeway.

Begaren was carrying the state badge identifying her as a corrections officer, although police did not know whether she had a chance to identify herself to her assailants.

Investigators did not know Sunday how many of the four men in the other car fired shots, Vargas said. He said Begaren’s husband and stepdaughter were inside the Kia when the shots were fired.

“The shooting was witnessed by the 10-year-old and by her husband, and they have been especially traumatized,” Vargas said, adding that counselors have been called to help the family deal with the tragedy.

At the family’s home in Lancaster on Sunday, Begaren’s husband was distraught.

“When I came home, my daughter ran inside the bathroom to hide,” Nuzzi Begaren said. “It’s too much,” he added, declining to speak further.

Construction along the freeway made it dark and difficult for Nuzzi Begaren to see what kind of car the assailants were using, Vargas said.

Descriptions of the assailants were hampered by lack of lighting and the fact that they were silhouetted by headlights, Vargas said.

Co-workers at the prison in Lancaster were “distraught and in disbelief,” spokeswoman Diane Gonzales said. Counselors also were on hand there to help deal with the tragedy, she said.

“I can’t characterize it as anything other than an immense loss, a tragic loss,” said Gonzales, who supervised Begaren at times during Begaren’s eight years with the department.

“We’ve even had inmates tell us that they’ve heard and that they’re very sorry,” Gonzales said. “I think that says a lot.”

Begaren was a member of a specialized unit that investigates criminal activity within the prison.

“She was extremely dedicated and would always get the job done,” Gonzales said.

But she said Begaren was not an aggressive person, and she would be surprised if Begaren had willingly become involved in a confrontation with another driver.

“She was bubbly, a cute little thing with freckles,” Gonzales said.

Begaren became the second officer slain in a troubling spate of six shootings of officers in three weeks.

Los Angeles Police Officer Steve Gajda, 29, was fatally shot Dec. 31 after struggling with a suspect while working on a detail to reduce New Year’s Eve gunfire.

Others who have been shot but survived include Los Angeles Police Officers Donald Boon, 32, and partner Manuel Solis, 24; off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Carlos Ponce, 43; and Richard Elizondo Sr., 34, an off-duty Maywood reserve officer. Elizondo, Ponce and Boon remained hospitalized Sunday.

Witnesses who might have seen Begaren’s blue Kia Sportage on the Riverside Freeway late Saturday are asked to call the Anaheim police robbery/homicide unit at (714) 765-1516.

Times staff writer Evelyn Larrubia contributed to this report.