Four police officers in Oakland, California, were fatally shot on March 21, 2009, by Lovelle Mixon, a convicted felon wanted on a no-bail warrant for a parole violation.

After escaping on foot to the nearby apartment of his sister, Mixon shot and killed two police SWAT team officers attempting to apprehend him.

PDT, Mixon was pulled over in a routine traffic stop, while driving a 1995 Buick sedan; two motorcycle officers, Officer John Hege and Sergeant Mark Dunakin, stopped him for a traffic violation on 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland, one block from Eastmont Town Center and an Oakland Police Department (OPD) substation.

[2] Mixon leaned out of the vehicle's side window, and opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol without warning, shooting both officers twice.

[3] By the time ambulances arrived, Sergeant Dunakin had died, and Officer Hege was found to be mortally wounded, having been shot behind the left ear.

She also knew that Mixon's sister lived in a two-bedroom, ground-level apartment on 74th Avenue, just a block from where the motorcycle officers were shot.

However, at the same time, another eyewitness had come forward with a valid account of seeing Mixon enter the apartment, although Mufarreh was unaware of that, as he had not reported back to the lieutenant who received the statement.

[3] Unknown to the SWAT team, following the MacArthur Boulevard shooting with the pistol, Mixon had managed to secure an SKS carbine with a fixed bayonet,[3] likely stored in his sister's apartment.

They determined that due to the location of Mixon's sister's apartment within the building, there was no way to ensure that other residents could safely be brought through the single front entry door to the street.

[3][7][10] Mufarreh decided to send in the SWAT officers prematurely, assessing that the threat level was low due to a high unlikelihood that Mixon would actually be present inside the apartment.

[3] At 3:02 p.m.,[3] SWAT team officers raided the apartment, breaking down the door while throwing nonlethal shock (flashbang) grenades.

They were momentarily surprised by a young girl who had been wounded in her leg by the flash grenade who screamed loudly and fled from the bathroom.

[3] As Romans was evacuated, one of the other SWAT officers then spotted Mixon beside the bedroom door, equipped with the SKS rifle, and fired at him.

When the shootings happened, he was living in East Oakland at his grandmother's house and was wanted on a no-bail arrest warrant for violating his current parole conditions.

[20][failed verification] The San Francisco Bay View, which identifies itself as a "National Black Newspaper," suggested that the killing of four police officers was a victory for "the people" and referred to Lovelle Mixon's death as a "murder".

[36] Speakers included Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Attorney General Jerry Brown.

[37] Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums attended; however, he was asked not to speak at the funeral by at least two of the slain officers' families, and he honored this request.

Oakland Police Department Chaplain, Father Jayson Landeza, read a letter of sympathy and support from President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama.