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Gunman's Call to Wife Reveals Possible Motive in Murder of CHP Officer

Luther was arrested by West Covina police in June 1994 in that Los Angeles County case, and one of the filed charges was assault on a peace officer with use of a semiautomatic weapon.  The CDCR record does not indicate he was sentenced for that.

August 14, 2019
1 min to read


The man who shot and killed California Highway Patrol officer Andre Moye during a traffic stop and wounded two responding officers in a gunfight Monday night in Riverside called his wife as he was being pulled over. The gunman was killed by responding law enforcement. 

Aaron Luther's wife McKenzie Luther told the Press-Enterprise that he had been driving alone in the carpool lane with an expired license and no registration — and with a rifle he couldn’t legally own because of his felony record.

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Luther, reportedly a member of the Vagos motorcycle gang, was paroled from state prison in 2004 after serving about 10 years of a 12-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder with an enhancement for the use of a firearm, first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary in Los Angeles County, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Luther was arrested by West Covina police in June 1994 in that Los Angeles County case, and one of the filed charges was assault on a peace officer with use of a semiautomatic weapon.  The CDCR record does not indicate he was sentenced for that.

He was discharged from parole in 2007, according to the department.

He also was charged with multiple felonies in San Bernardino County and pleaded no contest in 2010 to assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.

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