Public Safety Officer Keith Lawrence

Keith Lawrence

Public Safety Officer Keith Lawrence was shot and killed along with his fiancee, Monica Quan, by a former police officer who was seeking revenge against law enforcement officers for being fired. The subject ambushed them as they pulled into a parking spot at their apartment complex in Irvine, California. Both were shot multiple times with a 9mm handgun.

The subject had been fired from the Los Angeles Police Department several years earlier and was seeking revenge against members of the Los Angeles Police Department who had been involved with his personnel case. Ms. Quan's father had represented the subject in his personnel review hearings prior to his being fired.

Prior to ambushing Officer Lawrence and Ms. Quan, the subject the researched their backgrounds and was aware of Officer Lawrence's employment as a police officer.

Several days after their murders, the subject engaged in a shootout with members of the LAPD who were protecting an individual believed to be targeted by the man. Immediately following the shootout, the subject ambushed and murdered Police Officer Michael Crain, of the Riverside Police Department. He then fled to San Bernardino County, where he remained at large for several days.

After being located, he engaged officers in a prolonged gun battle in which Detective Jeremiah MacKay, of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office, was shot and killed. The subject committed suicide after the cabin he was barricaded in became engulfed in flames.

Officer Lawrence had served with the University of Southern California Department of Public Safety for six months. He and Ms. Quan had become engaged only days earlier.