Police Shoot, Kill Murder Suspect

A man who shot and killed his 4-year-old son and injured his wife at a Long Beach intersection Thursday later died in a shootout with Westminster police, officials said Friday.

An officer was wounded during the exchange of gunfire.

Brian Manuel’s neighbors called Westminster police after recognizing the 40-year-old in TV news reports. Shortly after 11 p.m., police arrived in the frontyard of his home in the 5100 block of Cornell Avenue.

“He confronted the officers, didn’t engage them and just opened fire,” said Police Lt. Jack Davidson. Police Sgt. Cliff Williams, a 14-year member of the Westminster department, was injured when a bullet pierced his protective vest. He was recovering at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.

The shootout occurred about seven hours after Manuel had picked up his son, Joshua, from day care in Long Beach. Manuel parked his car near Woodruff Avenue and Spring Street in east Long Beach and called his estranged wife, Paula Manuel, 35, of Long Beach. He asked her to meet him because his car had broken down.

After she arrived, Manuel placed their son in her car, then began shooting, police said. The woman, who suffered nonlife-threatening injuries, ran into the street and flagged down a motorist, who called police. Manuel also reportedly fired at the motorist, who was not injured.

He walked up to his wife’s car, shot his son at close range and fled, police said. The boy died at a nearby hospital.

Manuel shared one of the five bedrooms at the two-story home on Cornell Avenue. Neighbors said they were awakened by the gunfire late Thursday.

“We were in bed but I jumped out after I heard pop, pop, pop,” said F.E. Harris, a retired Los Angeles firefighter who lives across the street. “I looked out the window and it was dark but I saw two more flashes. Ten more minutes, I heard four more rounds. I knew it wasn’t fireworks.”