Behind the Badge
A man suspected of shooting and killing a man at an Anaheim motel last week and kidnapping a 23-year-old woman during the incident was shot by police in San Diego early Thursday morning after the woman escaped, police said.
The father of Brianne Deese, the kidnap victim, received a call from his daughter late last night — Wednesday, Jan. 18 — saying she had escaped her captor, Luke Lampers, and was in San Diego, Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.
Anaheim Police investigators immediately made the trip south and located Deese, Wyatt said.
The ongoing investigation led investigators to a San Diego motel, where they believed they could find Lampers.
San Diego Police responded to the motel to assist and Lampers was seen arriving at the motel in a vehicle.
When APD investigators attempted to contact Lampers, a brief foot pursuit ensued, leading to an officer involved shooting.
“Lampers was struck and has been transported to a San Diego area hospital,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt said Lampers’ injuries are non-life threatening and that a firearm was recovered near the location where he was taken into custody, and that Deese is safe.
No other details related to the shooting have been released.
San Diego Police will handle the shooting investigation, Wyatt said.
The APD Major Incident Review Team also was heading to San Diego to conduct a concurrent administrative investigation, the sergeant said.
Lampers, a 35-year-old transient, was positively identified as the person who allegedly killed Douglas Navarrro, 49, during a dispute at the Crystal Inn motel in Anaheim the evening of Jan. 11.
Lampers is suspected of forcing Deese into his vehicle at gunpoint and fleeing with her in the passenger seat in a 2011 orange Nissan Cube.
“Over the past week, the APD Homicide Detail, assisted by virtually every detail within the police department, has been engaged in an exhaustive effort to safely recover the 23-year- old female kidnap victim and arrest the suspect, Luke Lampers,” Wyatt said.
During an emotional news conference at APD headquarters last week, Navarro’s mother and Deese’s father begged Lampers to free the woman and turn himself in.
In this file photo from last week, David Deese asks the public’s help for the safe return of his daughter, kidnap victim Brianne Deese, during a news conference with APD’s PIO Sgt. Daron Wyatt next to him.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
