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Crime & Safety

Police Name Suspect in Moorpark Basketball Player Slaying

The man authorities suspect of shooting and killing Keith Lawrence and his fiancee, Monica Quan, is being sought by Irvine police, Los Angeles police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.

A fired Los Angeles Police Department officer was identified Wednesday night as a suspect in the fatal shootings of a 27-year-old former Moorpark basketball star and his fiancee, whose bodies were found in an Irvine parking garage.

Keith Lawrence, a public safety officer at the University of Southern California; and Monica Quan, 28, an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton; were found dead Sunday in Lawrence's car. Autopsies on the bodies were completed Tuesday and Wednesday, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

"The coroner determined that both died of multiple gunshot wounds,''
Amormino said. "No further information will be released at this time.''

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Law enforcement officials announced that they are seeking Christopher Jordan Dorner of La Palma, a former LAPD officer, as a suspect in the shooting.

Dorner was represented in a hearing that resulted in his firing by Randy Quan, the father of Monica Quan, said Irvine Police Department Chief David Maggard at a news conference Wednesday night.

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Dorner posted a multi-page manifesto online Monday, saying he didn't
mind dying, because he died on Jan. 2, 2009, the day he was fired from the LAPD, Maggard said.

In the manifesto, Dorner blamed Randy Quan, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer, for his firing.

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own ... (so) I am
terminating yours," Dorner wrote to Randy Quan.

The LAPD's elite Metropolitan squad was sent to protect others mentioned in Dorner's manifesto.

Dorner was being sought by Irvine police, Los Angeles police, the FBI
and U.S. Marshals Service. He may be anywhere between Los Angeles and San Diego, Maggard said.

Dorner is 6 feet tall and weighs 270 pounds, and was driving a blue 2005 Nissan Titan pickup with the California license plate 7X03191, Maggard said.

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