4 Oakland Police dead - "Hate begets hate; violence begets violence" in Oakland, CA.

" Hate begets hate; violence begets violence" in Oakland, California.

First it's the fatal shooting of unarmed 22-year-old Oscar Grant by a transit police officer at an Oakland train station on Jan. 1, 2009, now it's 4 police officers dead.

MSNBC and other news agencies report police are saying they don't know exactly why the officers initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a routine traffic stop.

UPDATE 4th officer dead.

Oakland police officer L. Ausmus, right, is escorted away from Highland hospital by a woman Saturday, March 21, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. Four officers were in critical condition and a suspect dead on Saturday after two related shootings, the first after a traffic stop and the second after a massive manhunt ended in gunfire, police said. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Police and black men equally know how routine traffic stops can go.Reports are black folks came out in mass at the scene of the first shooting taunting the police. As reported by MSNBCTension between police and the community has risen steadily since the fatal shooting of unarmed 22-year-old Oscar Grant by a transit police officer at an Oakland train station on Jan. 1. Former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer, Johannes Mehserle, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday. Violent protests erupted on the streets of Oakland in the weeks after Grant's death, further inflaming tensions. and other news outlets,

AP Images released by the Oakland Police Department, from left, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt. Daniel Sakai and Sgt. Ervin Romans. A man wanted for violating his parole killed three police officers and gravely wounded Hege during the in two shootings on Saturday. View related photos

OAKLAND, Calif. - MSNBC reports a police officer was battling for his life and three more were dead after a parolee with an "extensive criminal history" opened fire at a routine traffic stop and hours later gunned down members of a SWAT team searching for him.

The gunman was also killed Saturday, capping a day of violence that the Oakland Police Department said was the worst in its history. Never before had three police officers died in the line of duty on the same day.

"It's in these moments that words are extraordinarily inadequate," said Mayor Ron Dellums at a somber news conference Saturday night.

The mayhem began that afternoon, when two motorcycle patrol officers stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in east Oakland, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said. The driver opened fire, killing Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and gravely wounding Officer John Hege, 41.

Gunman flees on foot

The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies. Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland closed to traffic.

About two hours later, officers got an anonymous tip that the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building.

A SWAT team had entered an apartment to clear and search it when the gunman shot them with an assault rifle, police said.

Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, were killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police said.

SWAT team members returned fire, killing 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon of Oakland, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Officer Hege suffered brain damage and may not survive, his father, Dr. John S. Hege, said late Saturday.

"It is a stunning thing to face," he said.

On Sunday, Mixon's family defended the 26-year-old parolee.

Twenty-eight-year-old LaTasha Mixon of Sacramento said Sunday her cousin was "not a monster." She said her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives. More HERE

UPDATE: -- As reported by, Demian Bulwa,Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers,

The Oakland parolee who took the lives of four Oakland police officers knew he was a wanted man and deliberately skipped out on a meeting as part of a feud he was having with his parole agent, his family said today.

Lovelle Mixon's shocked family, gathering at an East Oakland home where the parolee had been living until recently, apologized to the officers' families and to the public, and said they don't understand what might have triggered his burst of violence.

"He's not a monster," said his sister, 24-year-old Enjoli Mixon, whose apartment on 74th Avenue was where Mixon was slain in a gun battle with police that left two Oakland SWAT officers dead. "I don't want people to think he's a monster. He's just not. He's just not."

"We're crushed that this happened," said his grandmother, Mary Mixon. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the officers' families....This shouldn't have happened."

Lovelle Mixon was on parole arising from an offense in San Francisco. Mixon was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an armed robbery in robbery in San Francisco, the family members said. He initially served six years, and then served another nine months after violating his parole when he got out.

His family said that while he was in Corcoran state prison, Mixon married his childhood girlfriend, Amora Langston, and worked briefly as a janitor for a low-income housing provider in Hayward once he got out two years ago. More HERE

The fact of he matter is the city leadership, police and residents are going to have to come together quickly. Tensions are high as Oakland residents struggle with this latest tragedy. The bottom line is these Police deaths amplify this city's problems.