Hundreds mourn man who killed police officers

[Tim01]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/31/BAAG16Q9J1.DTL

Nearly 500 people gathered at an East Oakland church Tuesday to say goodbye to Lovelle Mixon, the 26-year-old parolee who was killed by police after he went on a shooting rampage that left four Oakland officers dead.

The open-casket service, held at Fuller Funerals on International Boulevard, was about an hour long and had such a large turnout that a number of guests were forced to stand.


Singers sang. Poets read, and speakers remembered Mixon as an intense and animated storyteller, for his big smile, love of boxing and football and what they called a long and loving relationship with his wife of seven years.

Authorities say Mixon fatally shot four Oakland police officers March 21 before he was killed as he hid in his sister's apartment.

While no one spoke directly of the incident that left him dead, one family member spoke briefly of Mixon's stray from God, and a Nation of Islam minister urged mourners to remember they were there to support Mixon's grieving family.

Keith Muhammad of Oakland Mosque 26B said losing a member of the community is tragic no matter the circumstances.

"We see our young brother first as a brother," he said. "We can't do anything for him. We need to think about what we can do for the living."

E-mail Leslie Fulbright at [e-mail].

[cali]

1. Interesting.

it's tempting to judge. I'd rather not, not in this circumstance.

[Tim01]

6. Yeah, it may have been a mistake.

Maybe the 500 local people mourning at his funeral didn't know that he had murdered 4 police officers and was a rapist.

[varkam]

14. Was he convicted of rape? eom

[Tim01]

16. Nope. Wasn't convicted of murder either. Was convicted

of assault with a deadly weapon.

"Officials at a state laboratory reported to police Friday that DNA from a rape that happened in late January or early February matched Mixon's, said Lt. Kevin Wiley, who oversees the police sex crimes unit.

Mixon's DNA was on file because of his conviction in 2002 for assault with a deadly weapon in an attempted carjacking in San Francisco, for which he served six years in prison. The state lab's match was reported Friday afternoon to an Oakland police sex crimes investigator, Officer Herb Webber, Wiley said."

[varkam]

28. Well, it's hard to convict a dead man of much of anything.

Seeing as how he isn't around to prepare a defense. FYI, though, I'm not saying he didn't shoot the officers - I think that much is pretty clear. However, DNA evidence isn't always a lock depending on the facts of the case.

Really, though, if you want to drag him through the mud then I think you've got plenty of stuff to work with on the whole killing four cops angle.

eta: Note that I'm not defending his actions - just saying that, generally, there's a presumption of innocence. Had he survived the shooting, he would be afforded that same presumption but given that he died trading gunfire with the officers I think we can probably make an exception on the whole killing thing. I would certainly agree, however, with the proposition that he was suspected of rape.

[wryter2000]

9. I'm not buying it

Rant not directed at you but at the nooze media. :rant:

I live in Oakland. From the day after the shootings, the media have been trying to drum up a controversy. Even before they had a single bozo to go on camera and call that rat bastard a "hero," they started making noises about "Not everyone in the neighborhoods is grieving for the police."

One night, they went out to Uhuru House to talk about the demonstration they were going to be having in support of Mixon and his family. Turned out 60 people showed up. There had been thousands the night before in memory of the police...and hella lots of them came from the neighborhood.

More thousands of people from Oakland showed up in the Coliseum next to the arena where the funeral was to watch on a big screen. They couldn't even get into the funeral, but they went, anyway. A friend who's married to an officer from another town told me she heard from a police clergyman that the support from the community was overwhelming.

The number 500 surprises me. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was made up out of whole cloth. It was a funeral. Maybe he had a big family. Of course, people sang and recited poetry. That's what people do at funerals.

Hell, I support his family, too. (Maybe not all of them.) This has to have been hell for them, too. If I were a friend of the family, I'd go to support them.

All of Oakland is still in mourning. All of us. Don't believe a word of this crap. It's not true, and you're getting this from someone who's lived in this wonderful and sick city since 1969.

:rant:

[Beacool]

15. I was shocked by that demonstration.

Here's a man who gunned down 4 police officers over a mere traffic stop and he was called a "hero" by this crowd????

Aside from the fact that he raped a 12 yr. old girl in February and DNA tied him to some other rapes of young girls.

When I saw it on TV it made me sick.

:mad:

[wryter2000]

18. I'm not sure what you saw

I don't believe the Uhuru House demonstration was on tv. I think there may have been some counterprotesters at the rally on behalf of the police.

A little background on Uhuru House. They may well mean well, but they're out of touch with reality. They once got a measure on the ballot that if you had an empty bedroom in Oakland, you'd be required to put up a homeless person in there. :crazy:

You can always find a few people to say anything. In this case, the media went out looking for the idjits and then put them on camera as if they represented anyone besides themselves.

[Beacool]

22. Maybe I got the wrong group.

I saw some people on TV, they included this man's cousin, calling this guy a "hero". That it was society who was at fault and some other crap about white people. The commentator pointed out that the girls he raped were all AA. This guy was a threat to society, regardless of the race of his victims.

x(

[wryter2000]

27. Exactly

And, he was a bigger menace to the people around him than the people who live in the rich neighborhoods. (We do have those, too. :evilgrin:)

In this case, I don't think there's any reason to look at societal factors and poverty. He was just a nasty character. There are some of those in every group.

[Tim01]

17. Thanks for this post.

First hand info is sometimes not the same as what is reported in the news.

[wryter2000]

20. Thanks

It's not as if the nooze media have never misled us before, huh? :) You wouldn't expect it in a situation like this, but there you are.

[mulsh]

19. Oakland native & resident her thanks for the rant.

every point you make is accurate. Don't believe the local press on this issue. they're trying their best to stir up trouble where most people agree this was a tragedy on all sides. Every one I've talked to over the past week or so is sympathetic to all the surviving family members. No one has had anything much good to say about Mixon.

[wryter2000]

21. Hi, neighbor

:hi:

We get enough bad press (some of it deserved, other stuff not). We don't need this crap when we're hurting.

[varelse]

29. Thank you for the reality check (nt)

[pnutbutr]

2. what is frustrating is

hundreds show up for a guy who was shot by cops even though he killed four but few show up to mourn children who are gunned down by criminals.

[Oregone]

3. Was this guy famous?

Damn, I don't know what I could do to get that many people at my funeral. I don't even think the free beer would draw them, and I never even killed a cop.

[succubus.blues]

4. I don't understand this at all.

I live in the Bay Area and this guy shot those police officers in plain, cold blood, execution style. He was a child rapist. Losing a member of the community? *shaking head*

[Mike Daniels]

8. I guess everyone plays a role in their community....

However, unless Mr. Mixon had a secret sweet side I'd say his role was more likely one of destructive vs. constructive influence.

[butterfly77]

5. The problem I have with all of these situations is this..

Last week, I heard Michael Savage ranting and raving about the funeral of these officers and how he thought that the members of the police should have spoken and done something (I don't know what) to congresswoman Barbara Lee,the Mayor and other leaders my point is that everyone he mentioned were black. He spoke as though, because the perpetrator was black that all black people were responsible and that no police officers were black and that they also were mourning these officers.


The main problem I have with people like savage is that a few months ago, there were about five or six officers who beat had a young black man handcuffed and lying on the ground and they were beating him and then one of the officers shot him as he lay on the ground handcuffed. Savage and people like him seem to think that because someone is a police officer that they can do no wrong and that nothing is wrong when they Kill or hurt citizens. I think both cases are wrong, and killing is wrong.


As far, as this post is concerned , I guess this guy knew a lot of people..

[Tim01]

11. You are talking abotu the Bart shooting.

Here is a video of it if you want to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJukcFzEX4

I know cops who work dangerous areas like this. They tell me there are cell phone videos on them all the time. People with phones actually get in the way when they are trying to make an arrest.
Also, locals are not afraid of the cops using their guns at all. They know the cops can't shoot them unless it is to save life. But the cops will gladly pull out the taser and shoot them with that thing, they do it all the time.
The cops were dealing with a suspect who was starting to fight back. The cop either pulled out his gun and executed the guy while he knew knew people were recording it, or he got mixed up with his taser which operates just like a gun. Used his right hand instead of his left hand.
I have always thought it was a terrible idea to have a gun and taser operate the same.

[alarimer]

26. That cop in the BART shooting needs to go to jail.

He committed murder.

Now I have some sympathy for the four cops killed doing their job but there is a lot of (warranted) bad blood between police and the people in Oakland.

[Hugabear]

12. Michael Savage is a racist asshole, no two ways around it.

I don't really listen to him very much, but the few times I have tuned in, I've heard quite a few racist things fly out of his mouth.

[MadMaddie]

32. Well Savage is a racist, I am not surprised by his rhetoric.

[Gregorian]

7. One of the cops was the cousin of someone I know. He was one of the good guys.

He was a kind and gentle man. Not a pig.

This is what my friend had to say about him-

John was a good guy, the kind of person i think you would want watching your back.
He truly loved being a Police officer, and worked for over 6 years without pay as a reserve officer before finally getting on full time. He truly wanted to make a difference and was serious about helping in his community. A good natured guy, with an infectious smile who liked a good party, John was fun to be around.


Having said that, with all of the crap laws, and cops that are over vigorously enforcing them, I'm surprised there isn't more kickback. What a mess we've turned this country into.

[wryter2000]

10. He was the one who donated his organs

Four other people are living a better life now because of him.

I heard a lady from the 'hood saying one of the other officers caught the three men who'd killed her son.

[H2O Man]

13. Thank you for this.

Last week, I had a long phone conversation with one of my "best friends" from childhood. He went into the military after high school, and after retiring from that, became a detective in a city on the east coast. We had too rarely kept in touch over the years, though the few times we got together (usually at "class reunions"), we had a great time. Like so many people, we planned to keep in touch, but time goes by.

Late last year, his son died unexpectedly. Though my friend is somewhat conservative in many of his views, he had a great relationship with his very liberal son, who was a teacher. Since his son's death, we've communicated a lot more.

One of the things we discussed last week was the issue of "bad" cops. The truth is that good cops are aware of the ones who use excessive force, etc. I think that for too long, the police forces have protected their own. But my friend was explaining to me the frustrations they have when they do try to weed out the bad apples. If I wasn't raised in an extended family that included numerous good investigators, I probably would have been stunned by what he told me.

In order to correct the problems, we need to recognize that there are good cops and bad cops. There are certain character that are associated with the two groups. My friend said that one of the most important things is for there to be better screening, before certain personality types are issued a badge and a gun.

[Gregorian]

25. When I grew up, there seemed to be none of this.

But I recall several people I knew who became police officers. They were thugs and criminals. I believe that not unlike the wolves in sheep's clothing we see in the previous administration, some police also hide behind an image. Arrogant and aggressive people who think by becoming police they can engage in bullying and criminal acts, and get away. What better way to commit a crime than to be a criminal enforcer.

What I got away with as a young adult. Haha. Oh man. I really should have spent a lot of time in jail. Thank god I didn't. But that's not something I even want to think about.

We're fragile beings. I just wish more people realized this.

[cherokeeprogressive]

23. Daniel Sakai came from a small community where I live in the So. Cal mountains.

He was very much liked here. The community is still in shock.

[Rage for Order]

24. Are you f'ing kidding me?

They should've taken the deceased to the local landfill and thrown him on top of the trash heap. The hundreds who gathered to mourn him (aside from his family members) are nothing more than useful idiots.

[varelse]

30. Killer's cousin pays tribute to Oakland cops (main story)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/01/BAKB16QC57.DTL

[MedleyMisty]

31. Personally I don't see the need to demonize him

Note - this is more of a reply to posts in the thread in general than the OP.

He's dead. What are your hate and rage and disturbing thoughts of vengeance and abusing his body going to do to him? Will calling him or the people at his funeral names bring back the cops or bring him back or fix our horribly fucked up society?

He was a human. Sure, he fucked up, but what human hasn't? Some of us fuck up more than others, and most of that is based on pure luck - where and when we're born, how much money our parents have, what genes, both for appearance and personality, that they pass on to us, how they raise us, what random chaotic events happen in our lives.

I don't know - I'm working on it. But I can imagine myself as the cops and feel their pain. I can imagine myself as Mixon and feel his pain. I can imagine myself as the people who loved the cops and Mixon and feel their pain.

But hell if I can imagine myself as someone who isn't related to the situation at all feeling the need to post dehumanizing hateful shit about Mixon on an internet board. But then I don't know - like I said, I'm working on it. Are you guys angry about something else and taking it out on a scapegoat? After all poor black people do make such good scapegoats.