Slain Calif. officer likely unaware of killer’s criminal past

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The man who suddenly grabbed a rifle and opened fire during a traffic stop just off a Southern California freeway had a long and violent criminal history that the police officer he killed most likely knew nothing about as he filled out paperwork alongside the road.

California Highway Patrol Officer Andre Moye, Jr., was getting ready to impound Aaron Luther’s pickup when Luther, who was outside the vehicle and not restrained, reached inside, pulled out a rifle and started shooting on an overpass in Riverside.

Moye, 34, was fatally wounded but called for help and two responding officers were shot in the legs while frightened motorists ducked for cover from dozens of flying bullets.

Public records showing a person’s criminal history aren’t typically something an officer has access to during a traffic stop.

CHP Inland Division Chief Bill Dance said it’s not clear whether Moye asked a dispatcher to seek any additional information on Luther, 49, who was convicted of attempted murder in 1994 and also had convictions for assault, domestic violence, unlawful possession of a firearm and battery.

John Aresta, police chief in Malverne, N.Y., and a past president of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police, said an officer would have almost no way of knowing a driver’s criminal history during a traffic stop.

When an officer runs a vehicle’s license plate and a driver’s license, the reports will usually come back listing the registered owner, if it’s been reported stolen and if the license has been suspended or revoked. Active warrants may also be available, he said.

“It’s not going to come up with a criminal history and it’s not going to come with an asterisk saying ‘bad guy,’ ” Aresta said.

Luther did have a bench warrant dating from 2017 after he failed to appear in court to answer a CHP misdemeanor for driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Moye had been with the CHP for about three years and was a motorcycle officer for roughly a year. “His mother told me this was his dream job and he loved going to work,” Dance said. “It’s what he always wanted to do.”

Dance said Moye was an “outstanding” officer devoted to public service. He is survived by his wife, mother, father, stepfather, two brothers, two sisters and a large extended family, Dance said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered flags at half-staff Tuesday at the state Capitol and called Moye’s death devastating. Newsom, who took office in January, said he’s already been to “too many” funerals of officers killed in the line of duty.

“It’s just unacceptable and we need to push back against any notion that these folks are not the heroes that they are,” he said, adding that the death is another example of the “normalization of gun violence that we’ve long accepted in this country but no other country in the world would accept.”

Luther’s wife and father, meanwhile, were trying to make sense of his actions. They offered condolences to Moye’s family. “I’m so sorry for the officer,” Luther’s wife, McKenzie Luther, told the Southern California News Group. “I know his family is going through the same thing I am.”