Regis Deon Thomas (born June 16, 1970) is an American convicted murderer and

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includin ...

gang member who was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for the 1993 murders of Kevin Michael Burrell and James Wayne MacDonald, two officers in the

Compton Police Department The Compton Police Department was the municipal law enforcement agency for the city of Compton, California until it was disbanded by the City Council in September 2000. The Compton City Council then contracted with the County of Los Angeles for ...

who were shot dead during a traffic stop in the

City of Compton Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

. They were the only Compton police officers killed in the line of duty in the department's 65-year history. Thomas was also convicted of murdering another man in 1992 in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

Background

Thomas was born on June 16, 1970. He was the oldest of four children and grew up in

South-Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

. He was a member of the

Bounty Hunter Bloods The Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, also known as the Bounty Hunter Bloods, is a predominantly African American street gang situated in the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles. History The gang was originally established ...

street gang, a

subset based out of

Watts, Los Angeles, California Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated comm ...

. Thomas was convicted of perjury in 1990. He had once worked at a liquor store as a security guard, but the building was burned down during the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in S ...

, resulting in Thomas being out of work for a year.

Murders

On January 31, 1992, Thomas murdered Carlos Adkins in an apartment in Torrance by shooting him. Over a year later, on the night of February 22, 1993, at about 11 p.m., Compton Police Officer Kevin Michael Burrell, 29, and Reserve Officer James Wayne MacDonald, 24, made a routine traffic stop in

Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...

, at the intersection of

Rosecrans Avenue Rosecrans Avenue is a major west-east thoroughfare in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California, USA. It has a total length of 27.5 miles (44.3 km). The street is named after U.S. Union General William S. Rosecrans, who purchased of ...

and Dwight Avenue, on a red 1992 Chevrolet 454 pickup truck being driven by Thomas. As the officers exited their patrol car and approached the pickup truck, Thomas exited his vehicle and opened fire on both officers. Both officers were knocked down to the ground by bullet wounds. According to trial testimony, Thomas shot at their heads execution-style. Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests and were found lying face down near their patrol car with their guns holstered. There were nine spent nine-millimeter shell casings in front of the patrol car. Burrell died of multiple gunshot wounds to the arm, face, left foot, and head. MacDonald was also shot four times in his left armpit, middle back, upper back, and behind the right ear and died of a gunshot wound to the chest. After the shootings, Thomas returned to his truck and drove away.

Trial

Neither officer had notified dispatchers to report the traffic stop or request a background check on the truck's license plates. Detectives initially worked under the assumption that there were at least two assailants in the truck. Burrell and MacDonald were armed, but neither had even been given a chance to draw their gun. MacDonald and Burrell, a 5-year police veteran, were the second and third police officers killed on duty in the history of the Compton police force. MacDonald was killed during his last ever shift as a volunteer reserve officer on the Compton force. A massive manhunt ensued after the officers' deaths, which led to five arrests in other cases, solving three murders and two attempted killings. Compton police officers

Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd Timothy M. Brennan (March 2, 1959–November 16, 2021) and Robert Ladd (born February 19, 1959) joined the Compton Police Department as officers in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1988, they were promoted to become Compton's two-man gang unit. T ...

were a part of the task force that was formed in the wake of the murders that ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of Thomas. Thomas was captured on April 6, 1993, when he surrendered to

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

television reporter Warren Wilson. He was found guilty of the murders and was sentenced to death on August 15, 1995. He is currently on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

awaiting execution and is imprisoned at

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

. His CDCR number is J76200.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Regis Deon 1970 births 20th-century American criminals American male criminals Living people Bloods Prisoners sentenced to death by California People convicted of murder by California American people convicted of murdering police officers American prisoners sentenced to death African-American gangsters Gangsters from Los Angeles

Background

Murders

Trial

See also

References