Collection of Articles about Police Officers Killed by Semi-Automatic ...

A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections said no information on
Sullivan's prison record would be available until today. However, investigators said
he had enough convictions on his record to qualify for a 3-strikes lifetime prison
sentence if convicted of killing Chetcuti.
Sullivan could also face the death penalty if convicted of all the charges possible in
Saturday's slaying. The tragedy appeared to fit an increasingly disturbing pattern
of risk for police officers since the 3-strikes law was passed in the early1990s.
Statistics in recent years have shown that ex-convicts who clash with police and
have at least 2 convictions on their record have become more likely to try to kill
the officers rather than risk arrest and a possible 3-strikes conviction.
Stunned Millbrae residents -- many of them, like Chetcuti, of Maltese heritage --
built a shrine of flowers yesterday. Flags flew at half-staff all over town. He was
the 1st police officer in the history of Millbrae, a small town of 21,000, to fall in the
line of duty.
"He was the most well-liked officer in the department, and in the community," said
officer Richard Dixon, who remembers training Chetcutiwhen he joined the 27-
member force 11 years ago.
Chetcuti leaves a wife, Gail, and three sons: David, age 17; John, 14; and Rick,
11. Millbrae police have set up a trust fund for the family.
Friends and fellow officers described Chetcuti as a remarkable community man,
dedicated to his job, his family and his neighbors.
Family members say Chetcuti always wanted to be a police officer, was living his
dream, and passing that ambition on to the kids of Millbrae.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/05/05/MN86298.DTL
S.F.'s First Tribute to Slain Cops
92 have given their lives in line of duty
KEN GARCIA
Chetcuti was shot more than a dozen times by a motorist who had been stopped
for an expired registration. The suspect in the case, Marvin Sullivan, allegedly
used special armor-piercing bullets in his homemade automatic rifle. And when
San Francisco cops searched his hotel room -- two blocks from the Hall of Justice -
- they found gunpowder, blasting caps and other bomb-making paraphernalia.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/05/01/NEWS8613.dtl
Mass of blue for fallen cop
Jim Herron Zamora and Larry D. Hatfield, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Friday, May 1, 1998
3,000 peace officers from across U.S. turn out at Millbrae
funeral of "hero' who died in line of duty