One officer was killed and two others injured Monday morning while responding to a traffic accident in Whittier, California.

Police say the suspect was involved in a traffic accident near Colima Road and Mar Vista Street. After rear-ending another car while driving a stolen vehicle, he approached the driver and helped to push the car to the side of a road around the corner from the scene of the accident.

When the three Whittier officers arrived on scene and approached the suspect, he pulled a gun from his waistband and began to shoot at close range.

“When they get him out of the car, they go to pat him down for weapons, they can see he’s got tattoos all over his face and all over his neck,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Lt. John Corina said.

The 26-year-old suspect who took the life of Officer Keith Boyer is a known gang member – paroled only 10 days earlier.

“It seems like a simple traffic accident and next thing they know they’re in a gunfight,” Corina said, adding that “you never know when you respond to a call, what you are going to run into.”

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