SNIPER KILLS 2 RIVERSIDE DEPUTIES.

Byline: Associated Press 

A sniper armed with a military rifle ambushed and killed two Riverside County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic violence call early Sunday, authorities said.

James Lehmann Jr., 40, of Apple Valley and Michael P. Haugen, 33, of San Jacinto were gunned down shortly after 3 a.m. as they left their patrol cars at a trailer home in the Whitewater area near here, Riverside County Sheriff Larry Smith said.

The two were struck several times by shots fired from about 50 yards and died at the scene, Smith said.

``Both deputies were approaching on foot, so as not to alert the suspect,'' the sheriff said. ``He obviously was lying in wait.''

Shots also were fired at a sergeant who arrived to check out the scene when the deputies failed to call in. The gunman fired sporadically at other deputies who arrived to cordon off the area.

About 7:30 a.m., Timothy Russell, 36, was arrested a quarter-mile from the home and booked for investigation of murder.

As rain fell, the bodies of the deputies lay near their patrol cars, surrounded by scrub and chaparral on a sparsely populated rural road on the north side of Interstate 10.

It took several hours to apprehend the suspect, Smith said.

``He came walking towards deputies. They yelled out to him and then he ran'' but then lay down and surrendered, said Mark Lohman, sheriff's spokesman.

Russell was unarmed, but an M-1 military rifle was later recovered.

Russell's wife made the domestic violence call from a neighbor's home.

``His wife said that he had assaulted her and she told us she thought he might be under the influence of methamphetamines,'' Lohman said.

She was not seriously injured.

Deputies had little prior contact with Russell. He was arrested in the 1980s for investigation of spousal abuse but was not convicted.

The sheriff said that a domestic violence call is ``probably the most dangerous call that a deputy sheriff can go on.''

``You don't know what you're facing. These deputies took every precaution, but there's only so much you can do to defend yourself against somebody that's out to ambush you,'' Smith said.

``Their commander described both these deputies as very hard working, very productive, very interested in doing their public safety job.''

Neighbors said the gunman and his wife had a volatile home life.

``He didn't want her to leave,'' Viola Foxwell told KNBC-TV. ``He told her he was going to kill her if she leaves.''

The shootings came just hours after a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy was wounded when a robbery suspect shot at him. The deputy, whose name was not released, was responding to a liquor store holdup in the Athens district of Los Angeles County. Two people were arrested.

Sunday's killings bring the number of Southern California police officers killed in the past month to three.

Mario Navidad, a 27-year-old Los Angeles Police Department officer, was shot to death when he confronted a suspected gang member and shoplifting suspect in an alley.

Lehmann joined the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in March 1993. He leaves a wife and two children, Smith said.

Haugen, who joined the force in October 1991, also has a wife and two children.

Cabazon is a desert community about 70 miles east of Los Angeles.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Michael P. Haugen

Shot several times

(2) James Lehmann Jr.

Approached on foot

(3) Timothy Russell

Arrested near home