A bomb-sniffing dog checks the grill of an unmarked car belonging to a member of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force on Friday. A potentially deadly device, which authorities declined to describe, had been attached to the car and fell off in the parking lot of a convenience store in Hemet.
A Hemet gang officer's vehicle was booby-trapped Friday with a device that police described as "designed to kill" -- the third assassination attempt since New Year's Eve against task force officers.
A member of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force parked at an am/pm convenience store at Sanderson and Acacia avenues in Hemet about 8 a.m. Friday and went inside to buy coffee. When he came out, he saw a suspicious device on the pavement next to his car and called for help, Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart said.
"It's like war," Wisehart said, standing next to yellow crime scene tape as the device was being inspected. "Somebody's going to get lucky eventually -- or what will be unlucky for us."
Police declined to describe the device but said it was designed to kill the officer when he approached the car and got in, or when he got out, Wisehart said.
Police are not sure whether the device was attached to the plainclothes officer's black, unmarked Crown Victoria at his home or some other place where it was parked. The device was on the car when he drove to the am/pm market, and it fell off there.
"The first thing you think is if they're following you," Wisehart said. "They may be watching us as much as we're watching them."
The investigation shut down city streets for blocks in south Hemet and prompted the evacuation of several businesses near the market. Hemet police called the Riverside County sheriff's Hazardous Device Team.
Bomb technicians, one wearing a black mask, inspected the car with the aid of a bomb-sniffing dog. They determined the device was not explosive.
Hemet police will send it to the Department of Justice to be tested for fingerprints and DNA. The officer's car will be stored as evidence. Police are studying surveillance footage from the store.
"For our guys, the message is that you're not safe anywhere," Wisehart said.
The gang task force was targeted twice before -- on New Year's Eve and again last week -- at its office near the Hemet police station. After the second attack, the team moved to a new site.
In the first attack, someone cut a hole through the building's roof and rerouted a line to fill the office with natural gas, intending it to explode when a person turned on a light or computer, causing a spark.
Last week, a rolling gate was booby-trapped with a firearm that would fire a bullet at anyone opening it. The bullet narrowly missed an officer.
No suspects have been identified, but police think it may be a gang under investigation. Before the Dec. 31 incident, police had cracked down on outlaw motorcycle gangs, and a white-supremacist gang was dismantled last year. None has been linked to the attacks.
No gangs or suspects have been ruled out, Wisehart said.
Each incident is being investigated by Hemet police, the gang task force and the FBI.
"We will get them," Police Chief Richard Dana said.
Hemet police have declined to state what specific measures are being taken to protect officers. Dana said officers may seem less friendly in interacting with the public, out of concern for their safety.
The gang task force is made up of seven officers from Hemet police, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, the district attorney's office and probation and parole departments. It is one of eight units in the county. Police have not said which officers from which agencies were involved in the incidents, but said it was a different officer each time.
Gang task force officers aren't uniformed, but wear black bullet-proof vests.
The San Jacinto Valley has about 2,000 gang members who either are locals or have moved there from Los Angeles, said Hemet police Lt. Mark Richards, a one-time task force leader.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors last week offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to a conviction in the cases.
Hemet City Councilwoman Robin Lowe said she would seek assistance from state legislators to restore staffing that the Hemet Police Department lost to budget cuts.
"This is a domestic terrorist attack on our Police Department and our community," Lowe said.
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