Officer Killed; Suspect Is Caught in Manhunt

A young police officer was shot and killed while answering a domestic violence call at a South Los Angeles apartment Friday, and a suspect, Kenrick William Johnson, 32, was arrested several hours later after a massive manhunt.

Ricardo Lizarraga, 30 years old and just three years with the Los Angeles Police Department, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after he was shot in the abdomen just below the edge of his bulletproof vest, police said. He was married with no children.

It was the first fatal shooting of an on-duty LAPD officer since 1998 and came as concern has grown about the increasing number of attacks on officers. In more than 40 incidents in the last year, people shot at police, sometimes ambushing them in unprovoked, sniper-like assaults.

Friday’s killing occurred during one of the most routine types of police calls: domestic violence.

Police said a woman called them from a pay phone at a doughnut shop near Western Avenue and 48th Street just after noon Friday, asking officers to remove an abusive boyfriend from her nearby apartment. Police, swamped by other high-priority calls, did not respond immediately. So, the woman flagged down a passing police car about 12:50 p.m.

The two officers accompanied her to a two-story rear apartment at 1743 W. 48th St., where they confronted a man at the front door. The woman pleaded with police to remove him from the apartment, but not to arrest him.

The officers approached Johnson and were moving to pat him down when he fled to a back bedroom and emerged with a gun, said LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell. One officer yelled, “He’s got a gun!” before the gunman fired multiple shots, striking Lizarraga, McDonnell said.

His partner, Officer Joel Ruiz, fired back. Johnson then ran back through the house and outside, still carrying the gun.

Responding to a radio call of officer down, hundreds of officers converged on the scene, cordoned off the area and began a manhunt.

Lizarraga was in surgery for more than an hour. He died at 3 p.m., Deputy Chief Gary Brennan said.

“The officers’ injuries were so severe that upon arrival, he had no pulse,” Brennan said. “There was little likelihood he would survive. They worked extremely hard to save this officer’s life. Unfortunately, the wounds were so severe they could not.”

Brennan called Lizarraga “a fine young officer, very popular, and hard-working.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing Lizaragga’s courage, ordered Capitol flags flown at half-staff in his honor.

When news of the death arrived, a large group of police officers from three departments gathered at a command post awaiting orders. A quiet descended, the tragedy reflected in dozens of stricken, angry faces.

Police eventually shut down streets and locked down two elementary schools across about two square miles of South Los Angeles to conduct the manhunt. More than 300 officers, plus dogs and specialized units, were called in. Sheriff’s deputies and L.A. school police assisted.

A number of area residents called police with tips about abandoned buildings and garages to search, but hours of effort brought no result.

Then, about 4:50 p.m., police dogs found Johnson, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a black jacket, in an abandoned car in an alley near the intersection of 45th Street and Western Avenue. One dog bit him on an arm.

Police described him as a gang member with convictions for drug sales, arson and domestic violence as well as robbery, which earned him a five-year prison sentence between 1990 and 1995. He was still on parole.

“Certainly, all of Los Angeles is in mourning for the loss of one of our finest,” Mayor James K. Hahn said. “It points up the dangers our officers face on the streets every day. We saw the cruel result of that today. For a safer city, we need these shootings of these police officers to stop.”

Domestic violence is among the most common police calls everywhere, and they can be among the most unpredictable and dangerous. Domestic violence accounted for more assaults on officers last year than any other single type of call, resulting in 18,063 attacks on police nationwide.

Lizarraga’s death was the first on-duty homicide of an LAPD officer since Brian Brown was killed in 1998. Also that year, Officer Filbert H. Cuesta was shot and killed as he sat in his patrol car in the Crenshaw area, and Officer Steven Gajda was shot and killed while struggling with a murder suspect outside a party in Boyle Heights.

Late Friday, officers from other police divisions were sent to the home division of the slain officer, the Newton Division south of the Santa Monica Freeway, to help officers deal with the loss.

“It is a very tough day for the LAPD family and the city of Los Angeles,” McDonnell said. “We have talked repeatedly about the assaults with firearms on our officers. We had been very lucky up until this point that we hadn’t lost an officer. However, today our worst nightmare was realized.”

“Every night these cops are chasing warrants and murderers down here,” South Bureau Cmdr. Jim Tatreau said shortly after the shooting. “And then, in broad daylight, someone flags down police over some dispute -- the most ordinary thing -- and it ends in a cop being shot.”

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Times staff writers Kevin Pang, Christiana Sciaudone and Erin Ailworth contributed to this report.