2009 Shootings of Oakland Police Officers - Aftermath - Timeline

Timeline

• March 22 - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff in honor of the slain officers.

• March 23 - Officer John Hege's organs were harvested. After Hege was transferred to the hospital, doctors determined that his brain lacked sufficient activity to sustain life. He was the only one of the four fatally shot officers who was a registered organ donor, and he had to be deemed officially brain dead before his organs could legally be harvested. So he was kept on life support awaiting the official declaration of brain death and subsequent organ harvesting. Officer Hege was pronounced officially brain dead on March 22. His organs were harvested on March 23, he was disconnected from life support that evening, and he died afterwards. His organ and tissue donations saved four lives and enhanced 50 others.

• March 24 - A vigil was held by the City of Oakland at the site of the shootings. At least 1,000 people attended, including Mayor Ron Dellums, Police Chief Howard Jordan, and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi.

• March 24 - Lovelle Mixon's sister, Enjoli Mixon, in whose apartment the shooting occurred, appeared in a Fremont court after being arrested on a bench warrant stemming from an October, 2008 misdemeanor drug charge.

• March 25 - United States Congressman Jerry McNerney gave a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives honoring the four slain police officers.

• March 25 - A vigil for Lovelle Mixon, sponsored by the Uhuru Movement, was held along Oakland's MacArthur Blvd., close to where the shootings occurred. It was attended by Mixon's mother, his wife, some of his family members, and approximately 60 other people.

• March 27 - A public funeral for the four officers was held at Oakland's Oracle Arena. It was attended by at least 21,000 people. (See expanded section below.)

• March 31 - Approximately 500 people attended the funeral service for Mixon. The service included family members, friends, singers and poets, and it was held at Fuller Funerals on International Boulevard in Oakland. A Nation of Islam minister asked everyone to remember that they were gathered to support Mixon's family, and one family member spoke of how Mixon had strayed from God.

• March 31 - Several hundred people gathered in the early evening at an event organized by Pastors of Oakland, which is composed mainly of black ministers. Caroline Mixon, cousin of Lovelle Mixon, publicly praised the Oakland Police Department for serving and protecting the people of Oakland. Reverend Doug Stevens exhorted those gathered to live as if they were already in heaven, "without regard to color or class".

• April 10 - The Oakland Athletics paid tribute to the four slain officers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in a special ceremony before its home opener against the Seattle Mariners. A's players donned Oakland Police caps for the ceremony and debuted "OPD" patches on their white home uniforms, which were worn for the remainder of the 2009 season.

• May 4 - A state laboratory associated with the Oakland Police Department reported that Lovelle Mixon's DNA linked him to the rape of a 12-year-old girl on February 5, 2009, and also proved that he robbed and raped two young women on the morning of the shootings. Based on this latest revelation, California State's Attorney General Jerry Brown, former Mayor of Oakland, voiced his opinion that Lovelle Mixon had been "a one-man destruction force." Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, lamented that this new information "doesn't bring the guys back...all it says is, to his supporters, this is who you're supporting. Congratulations for supporting a monster."