Driver on Alleged Rampage Killed by Off-Duty Officer

An off-duty Los Angeles police sergeant shot and killed a 27-year-old Woodland Hills neighbor who crashed a truck into a line of parked cars and then allegedly tried to run the officer down, police said Tuesday.

Christopher Oliver, who authorities allege was drunk, smashed into six vehicles and then attempted to run down 36-year-old Sgt. Steve Ulrich before the policeman fatally shot him about 10:45 p.m. Monday, police said.

“I heard a few shots and got so scared,” said neighbor Mahbobeh Razmara. “I looked outside and saw a guy with a gun.”

Ulrich wasn’t in uniform, and police could not confirm whether he identified himself as an officer before firing. They said Ulrich began shooting because he feared for his life.

Ulrich went to investigate loud noises outside his home in the 23300 block of Friar Street, carrying his 9-millimeter handgun, police said. As he walked into the street, he saw Oliver speeding away in a white pickup, said Los Angeles Police Officer Jason Lee. Ulrich called 911 on his cellular phone.

Oliver then reportedly drove a short distance toward his own house near Friar and Jackie Avenue. Lillian Regan, who lives on Friar, said that her son tried to keep Oliver pinned in his driveway by blocking the truck with a car but that Oliver managed to elude him.

Oliver “just wouldn’t stop,” she said. “He was using the vehicle as a weapon. There might have been people injured.”

By then, Ulrich had reached the intersection of Friar and Jackie, where Oliver was stopped. Ulrich walked up to the badly damaged truck and ordered Oliver to get out, police said. Oliver refused and gunned the truck toward Ulrich, according to police.

The sergeant fired several shots into the truck, striking Oliver in the upper body, Lee said. Oliver opened the door and fell onto a strip of grass, where he died.

Two witnesses said they heard five to seven shots.

Oliver had lived in his one-story house about two years, down the street from Ulrich’s residence. The two men apparently did not know one another.

Friends said Oliver worked various jobs and was raising a 7-year-old son. One longtime female friend stopped by the house Tuesday, clutching a brown pillow and crying at the site where Oliver died.

“He was very outgoing and had all the toys like a motorcycle and a truck,” said neighbor Fred Transue. “He liked to play his radio loud and had a few parties. But who wouldn’t at that age?”

Ulrich has been an LAPD officer for 13 years, said department spokesman Lt. Horace Frank. An LAPD source said Ulrich has never been disciplined. He is working in the department’s ombudsman office at Parker Center.

“He’s very helpful, and we all adore him here,” said Regan, a neighbor who knew Ulrich when he was a boy growing up in the neighborhood. “We are glad he’s here on our block.”

Regan surveyed the damage to her cars as she watered her lawn Tuesday. Two older Mercedes-Benzes and a Volkswagen bus belonging to her were slightly damaged. The rear window of a blue Nissan Maxima was shattered and a tire well was smashed.