Fired LAPD Officer Named in Death of Walnut Woman, Fiancée

The Irvine Police Department has identified a fired LAPD officer as a suspect in the shooting deaths of Keith Lawrence, 27, and his 28-year-old fiancée Monica Quan, reported KNX radio.

Christopher Jordan Dorner, an LAPD officer from Feb. 7, 2005 to Sept. 4, 2008, reportedly implicated himself in the double homicide.  Irvine Police Chief David Maggard had a news conference at around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, which KNX streamed live, and warned that Dorner, a La Palma resident, is considered armed and dangerous.

Dorner posted online what Maggard referred to as a manifesto on Monday lashing out at Quan’s father, Randy Quan, as well as other LAPD union representatives, the chief said during the press conference.  Randy Quan represented Dorner during a Maggard said. The LAPD's elite Metropolitan squad was sent to protect others mentioned in Dorner's manifesto.

Authorities declined to release the letter, which has subsequently been removed from the site where the suspect posted it.

In the multipage document, Dorner said he didn't mind dying, because he died on Jan. 2, 2009, the day he was fired from the LAPD, Maggard said.

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.

Irvine Police are asking for the public’s help in finding Dorner.  The suspect is 6' and around 270 pounds, Maggard said. His last known residence is in 4900 block of Sharon Drive in La Palma, authorities said.

He is likely driving a blue Nissan truck with license plate number 7X03191.

The announcement of a suspect in the case comes after autopsies were conducted on the bodies of Lawrence and Quan, a former Walnut High School star athlete. Both died of multiple gunshot wounds, Orange County coroner's officials said today.

Irvine homicide investigators set up a tip line at (949) 724-7192.

Police received a call at 9:10 p.m. Sunday reporting a person slumped over in a parked car at 2100 Scholarship. Officers found the recently engaged couple dead in Lawrence's Kia, which was parked at the top of the five-story structure for the building where they lived.

Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen said there's no evidence they were being robbed, and noted that the high-density residential community is highly secure with key card access only.

Quan was an assistant coach for the Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team, and before that was an assistant coach at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

The couple met while at Concordia University in Irvine, where they both played basketball. Lawrence was seeking a career in law enforcement, which made him a good match for Quan, whose father was an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, friends said.

Lawrence, who graduated from the Ventura County Sheriff's Academy, was working as a patrol officer at USC's Department of Public Safety. He joined the department in August, said Carl Marziali, USC's assistant vice president of media relations.

Quan was in her second season working under Coach Marcia Foster. A star athlete at Walnut High School, Quan played basketball at Cal State Long Beach from 2003-05 before transferring to Concordia University, where she graduated in 2007 with a degree in exercise and sports science. In 2009, she earned a master's degree.