Huge manhunt for detective's killer

'America's Most Wanted' plans to air case tonight

Fernando Quintero And Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 14, 2005 at midnight

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LOS ANGELES - Even as Denver paused Friday to mourn a fallen officer, the hunt for his suspected killer churned on here where a 200-strong team of officers scoured the city.

"I know there is one thing you want to hear," said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman to a church crowded with mourners Friday morning. "That we made an arrest in this, and as of 10 o'clock today we have not.

"I'd like to ask you to say a special prayer for the men and women involved in the manhunt so we can bring this to a safe and quick resolution."

Raul Garcia-Gomez is suspected of killing Donald Young, 43, and wounding fellow Detective John H. Bishop, 35.

"We are continuing to work around the clock," Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. "We are working at getting the word out through fliers and television."

America's Most Wanted plans to air details about the shooting in tonight's episode, Jackson said.

A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Garcia-Gomez's arrest.

Police have received tips that Garcia-Gomez fled into Mexico, but officers hold out hope he may still be in the country.

Six Denver detectives, along with two chief trial deputies from District Attorney Mitch Morrissey's office, are now in Los Angeles, working with more than 200 investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.

FBI agents and U.S. Marshals also are assisting with the hunt.

Jackson said no decision has yet been made about how long the search will continue.

"That will be a call by the chief," Jackson said. "The chief is very committed to this investigation."

Los Angeles police officials said they had no new leads on Garcia-Gomez's whereabouts and were putting up fliers of the shooting suspect in the Hollenbeck district, a heavily Hispanic neighborhood.

Authorities in Los Angeles found the car belonging to the 19-year-old suspect Wednesday in an area south of the city. A search of the car and the house it was found behind provided investigators with numerous leads to other addresses and individuals in the Los Angeles area.

Young and Detective John Bishop were shot early Sunday while working off-duty security for a baptism.

Police believe Garcia-Gomez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had been employed as a dishwasher at Denver's Cherry Cricket restaurant, shot Young three times and Bishop once.

Bishop suffered a minor injury.

Sandra Rivas, Garcia-Gomez's girlfriend and the mother of his 3-week-old daughter, said he told her Sunday morning that he shot the two officers after they barred him from re-entering a baptismal party at Salon Ocampo.

Rivas told the Rocky Mountain News on Tuesday that Garcia-Gomez asked her for forgiveness and she begged him to turn himself in.

Instead, he worked his complete shift Sunday at the Cherry Cricket, then vanished.

The Los Angeles neighbors of Rivas, who lived in the city, described her as a truant who used to ditch school regularly and ran away from home at least once.

No one remembered seeing Garcia-Gomez come around. But they said Rivas dated a teenaged boy for several months before meeting Garcia-Gomez. The pair moved from south central Los Angeles to Denver about a week after meeting.

Pedro Vela, a handyman who works for the manager of the apartments where Rivas and her family used to live, described the Rivases as a "good family."

"They paid their rent on time. The father worked hard. They were peaceful," said Vela, who took over duties as the apartment handyman from Sandra's father, Leopoldo Rivas.

"But Sandra had a live-in boyfriend who seemed quite young, but so did she. They ran away together one time, maybe twice. She also used to get in trouble for ditching school."

Mary Yi, who owns a liquor store next door to the apartments, had a picture of Rivas and her younger brothers taped next to the cash register.

"She had a brother that was very smart, even though the environment is not so good here," she said.

"Sandra - I don't know. She didn't seem to make such good choices."

They said it

• Gerry Whitman, Denver police chief at the service Friday morning for Detective Donald Young: "I know there is one thing you want to hear. That we made an arrest in this, and as of 10 o'clock today we have not. I'd like to ask you to say a special prayer for the men and women involved in the manhunt so we can bring this to a safe and quick resolution."

• Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman: "We are continuing to work around the clock. We are working at getting the word out through fliers and television." He said America's Most Wanted plans to air details about the case tonight. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Raul Garcia-Gomez's arrest.

crecenteb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2811

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