RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — California authorities searched Monday for a truck driver accused of killing a Riverside police officer during a gunfight after the lawman stopped the big-rig driver for a hit-and-run accident.
Roadblocks were up and at least 10 tractor-trailers were parked and unable to make deliveries to a local Walmart distribution center that was shut down because of the manhunt, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
Officer Ryan Bonaminio was on patrol at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday when he pulled over a semi-truck believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run accident near State Route 60, according to a police statement.
The truck drove a short distance and stopped at Fairmount Park. The driver got and ran into the park and Bonaminio ran after him, police said.
The driver and the officer exchanged gunshots and the officer was hit at least once, Lt. Leon Phillips said.
Backup officers arrived to find him on the ground. Bonaminio, a four-year member of the police department and an Iraqi war veteran, died at a hospital.
The killer then is believed to have fled in his truck, police said.
Bonaminio was the second Southern California policeman killed in the line of duty in the past two weeks.
San Diego Officer Christopher Wilson, 50, was killed in a shootout on Oct. 27 as officers served an arrest warrant at an apartment.
The suspected killer, Holim Lee, 30, was later found dead along with his girlfriend inside the apartment bedroom. Investigators concluded that he shot himself in the head. His girlfriend, Lucky Xayasene, 27, also was shot in the head but her death is listed as a homicide.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.