Shootout leaves officer, gunman dead
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A driver stopped by police pulled out a rifle and opened fire, killing a California Highway Patrol officer and wounding two others during a shootout on a freeway overpass that left the gunman dead and sent terrified motorists running for cover.
Officer Andrew Moye Jr., 34, died in the gunfight as dozens of bullets flew Monday afternoon in Riverside, east of Los Angeles. Two civilians received minor injuries.
The other officers were both shot in their legs, CHP Chief Bill Dance said Tuesday. One was in critical condition and the other was serious but both are expected to survive, he said.
The gunman was identified by the Riverside County coroner’s office as Aaron Luther, 49, and authorities say he had a criminal record that included an attempted murder conviction in 1994.
Moye had pulled over a pickup truck and was doing paperwork to impound it when Luther, who was outside the vehicle, reached in, grabbed a rifle and fatally wounded the officer, authorities said. Moye was able to radio for help and other officers engaged in a “long and horrific gun battle,” Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said.
Luther’s father, Dennis Luther, said he watched the events unfold on television. “It’s hard. I love him. And I’m sorry for the policeman,” he told KABC-TV. “I’m devastated. I just can’t believe it.”
After his truck was impounded, Aaron Luther called his wife to pick him up, his father said. When she arrived, “She said she heard ‘pop, pop, pop’ … gunfire, and then a bullet went through the windshield of her car,” Dennis Luther said.
He said his son recently seemed depressed, was having knee pain and marital problems but was devoted to his children.
“He lived for his kids. That’s what motivated him,” Luther said. “So I don’t know what overcame him. I mean, I wish I did know.”
Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Aaron Luther was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder and an enhancement for the use of a firearm, as well as burglary charges. He began his sentence in 1994 and was paroled in April 2004.
Court records show Luther was arrested in 2007 on felony assault charges and took a no-contest plea deal that sentenced him to 90 days in jail.