Around 4 p.m. on March 18, 1997, LAPD
undercover officer
Frank Lyga shot and killed Rampart CRASH officer
Kevin Gaines in
self-defense, following a case of apparent
road rage.
[6][8] According to Lyga and other witnesses' testimony, Gaines pulled his green
Mitsubishi Montero up to Lyga's
Buick and flashed
gang signs.
[8] After Gaines followed Lyga and brandished a
.45 ACP handgun, Lyga took out his gun and called for backup using a hidden radio activated by a foot pedal, saying, "Hey, I got a problem. I've got a black guy in a green Jeep coming up here! He's got a gun!" Pulling up at a stop light, Lyga later testified that he heard Gaines shout, "I'll cap you." Lyga fired his
9×19mm Beretta 92 duty pistol into Gaines'
SUV twice, one of the bullets lodging in his heart. Lyga radioed one final transmission: "I just shot this guy! I need help! Get up here!" Lyga reported that Gaines was the first to pull a gun and that he responded in self-defense. In an interview on
PBS'
Frontline, he said, "In my training experience this guy had 'I'm a gang member' written all over him." Inside of Gaines's car, a Death Row Greatest Hits CD was found, as he was listening to Death Row's inclusion of No Vaseline at the time of the confrontation.
In the ensuing investigation, the LAPD discovered that Gaines had apparently been involved in similar road rage incidents, threatening drivers by brandishing his gun. The investigation also revealed that Gaines was associated with both the
Death Row Records record label and its controversial owner and CEO,
Suge Knight. Investigators learned that Death Row Records, which was alleged to be associated with the
Bloods street gang, was hiring off-duty LAPD officers to serve as
security guards. Following three separate internal investigations, Lyga was exonerated of any wrongdoing.