LAPD Officer Wounded During New Year’s Eve Shootout Still Critical

A Los Angeles police officer severely wounded in a Thursday night shootout outside a Studio City apartment complex remained in critical condition Saturday, authorities said.

Meanwhile, the Arizona parents of the gunman, who was shot to death by police Thursday, tried to understand how their son, who they said hated guns, could be the same man suspected of shooting a police officer.

James Travis McCracken, 32, shot Officer Cynthia French several times, hitting her under her bulletproof vest, damaging her lungs and liver, according to police. Officers returned fire, killing McCracken, who wore a military-style, bulletproof helmet and was armed with two automatic rifles and a semiautomatic handgun with two high-capacity magazines of ammunition.

After the shootout, police found another handgun and hundreds of rounds of automatic weapon ammunition at his Bluffside Drive apartment and in his car.

The gunman’s parents, James A. McCracken and Maryann McCracken, said Saturday that their son had just visited them at their Mesa, Ariz., home for Christmas. Maryann McCracken said her son “had kept to himself for years,” and during Christmas, “he seemed very strange.” She did not elaborate.

“He hated guns,” said James McCracken. He said he was surprised when one of his son’s friends told him a few weeks ago that his son had purchased a gun. “Many times he didn’t want to hunt or fish because he didn’t want to kill anything. He didn’t like to go fishing--not even catch and release--because he was afraid he would kill a fish.”

He did not discuss the gun purchase with his son, the father said.

His son was an intelligent man and “a loner to a big degree,” he said. As a boy, the younger McCracken once won an outstanding journalist award at his high school paper and taught himself photography and several musical instruments. Later, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in computer consulting.

At the time of his death, McCracken was doing computer work for a large telecommunications company, according to family members.

“I can’t imagine him doing something like this,” James McCracken said.

French, a 16-year veteran of the LAPD, and her partner, Officer Paul Lin, were investigating a report of a man with a gun at the Bluffside Drive apartment complex when police said McCracken opened fire on the officers from his apartment and pursued French and Lin.

French, 40, returned fire and was shot by McCracken, police said.

Officers Richard Blue, Bradley Kolfschoten , Christopher Michaelides and Scott Young rescued French from the line of fire. They dragged French to safety and carried her to a waiting ambulance.

When McCracken moved to the entrance of the apartment parking lot and continued to shoot at officers, police said Sgt. Joan Leuck and Officer Romik Keshishi returned fire, killing McCracken.

Police had received two earlier calls of a man with a gun at the apartment complex, but the gunman was not there when the officers investigated.