An officer in Southern California was fatally shot Thursday by a man with a violent criminal record during a traffic stop.
The suspect later died in a shootout with police officers, authorities said.
Isaiah Cordero, 32,
had stopped a pickup truck shortly before 2:00 pm in the east Los Angeles city of Jurupa Valley.
As he approached the vehicle, the driver pulled out a handgun and fired at him, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference.
A witness called 911 and residents tried to help Cordero until paramedics arrived, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Authorities began a "mass manhunt" for the suspect, who was located in San Bernardino County, sparking a chase along highways in both counties, according to the sheriff.
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Television news shows images of dozens of California Highway Patrol and Sheriff's Department cars chasing the truck.
On Interstate 15 in Norco, the truck eventually couldn't go any further, losing an axle, and crashed, Bianco said.
“At the end of the chase, the suspect fired at the officers” with a firearm and they fired at him, killing him, Bianco said.
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The suspect,
William Shae McKay, 44,
of San Bernardino County, had a long and violent criminal history dating back to before the year 2000. His record included kidnappings, robberies and multiple arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, including the stabbing by a California Highway Patrol dog, the sheriff said.
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Cordero was a motorist officer assigned to Jurupa Valley, a city 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles that contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for police services.
Cordero joined the 4,000-member department as a corrections aide, worked in local jails, became a sworn officer in 2018 and finished the process to become a motorcycle officer in September, Bianco said.
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Cordero “
learned from his mother the value of serving and helping others”
and his goal in the department was always to become a motorized agent, he added.
“He was naturally drawn to law enforcement and certainly embodied our motto of service above self,” Bianco said.
"He was a joker at the police station and all our agents saw him as his little brother."
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The sheriff said McKay was convicted last year of a "third offense" offense that should have landed him in state prison for 25 years to life, but
a San Bernardino County judge lowered his bail,
allowing him to be released .
released, later releasing him after an arrest for failing to appear for his sentencing.
“He should have been immediately sentenced to 25 years in prison,” Bianco declared,
“we wouldn't be here today if the judge had done her job.”
Several hours after the shooting, dozens of deputies on motorcycles and patrol cars escorted a hearse carrying the flag-draped coffin of the sheriff's deputy from the hospital to the county coroner's office.
