A gunman who killed two California police officers this week was so enraptured with guns and law enforcement that he tried to become a police officer in 1992.
The Los Angeles Times said Saturday that David Fukuto, 32, passed the Los Angeles Police Department's written exam in June, 1992. He scored a 93 out of 100 on the oral exam a month later."I think he wanted to try to do some good," said a friend who shared Fukuto's passion for guns and often went target shooting with him. "Everybody wants to take the bad guys off the streets."
Fukuto's test scores were considered outstanding, but the self-employed life insurance agent did not take subsequent tests or land a job because of a partial hiring freeze and a flood of applicants with Gulf War experience, a city personnel department spokeswoman said.
Under the city's hiring rules, veterans of Operation Desert Storm are given a five-point bonus on the police department's oral exam, enabling some applicants to score above 100.
"He did very well, but it was kind of cutthroat," said Diana Britt, assistant chief of the department's Police and Fire Selection Division. "I doubt they hired anyone that year who scored under 98."
According to a close friend who attends Fukuto's Los Angeles church, Fukuto took the LAPD rejection "with a grain of salt" and never spoke of a grudge against law enforcement.
The friend said being a cop "wasn't on the top of his agenda." He said Fukoto had a visceral reaction to the lawlessness that followed the state verdicts of the Rodney King beating trial in the spring of 1992.
"If he talked of anything it was getting even with gangbangers or drug dealers, but not with cops," the friend said. "I think everyone has some sort of fantasy about being a cop and he probably did too, but I don't think he had an obsession."
On Feb. 14, Fukuto stormed into a seminar for Palos Verdes police officers and city officials at a Torrance hotel and shot and killed Capt. Michael Tracy, 50, and Sgt. Vernon Vanderpool, 57.
Police tried to wrestle two guns away from him. Fukuto died during the struggle.