Killer Had Aspirations of Becoming Policeman

The man who shot his former girlfriend, her grandfather and himself to death at a Santa Ana mobile home park over the weekend was the scion of a well-known police family whose own law enforcement career ended when he dropped out of the Long Beach Police Academy last year, authorities said Monday.

Officer Jana Blair, a Long Beach Police spokeswoman, said no misconduct was involved when William Farley Stovall III, 22, withdrew from the academy only a week after entering it April 3.

Stovall’s father, Michael, of Seal Beach, is a sergeant assigned to the drug investigation section of the Long Beach Police Department. He is also vice president of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn.

Stovall’s grandfather, William Farley Stovall Jr., was described by authorities Monday as a legendary deputy chief of the Long Beach department who retired in 1987 after a 30-year career.

“The family is highly respected,” said Rick Pillsbury, a spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

The younger Stovall killed Robyn Clay, 22, and Allen Jake VerSteeg, 67, Sunday in their mobile home in Santa Ana’s Lake Park senior community with a semiautomatic weapon. Afterward, police said, he turned the gun on himself.

“Everything happened very fast,” Sgt. Raul Luna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department, said Monday.

While investigators are still interviewing family members and friends to determine what set Stovall off, Luna said, it appears to be a “black-and-white case.” Stovall and Clay had broken up two or three months ago, he said.

“Ever since then, it had been a case of him wanting to get back into the relationship and her deciding that that wasn’t going to happen,” Luna said. “When you get anger and jealousy mixed into one, it’s a very explosive situation.”

Investigators could not confirm published reports that Stovall had attended a firefighting academy in Northern California, or that he had applied for a position with the Long Beach Fire Department.