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Days after coach’s death, manhunt only adds to shock for Cal State Fullerton players

forsale

Friends and family of Walnut High alum Monica Quan, 28, gather for a candle light memorial on the steps of the Walnut High campus Feb. 4, 2013. Quan, a CSU Fullerton assistant basketball coach and her fiancé were found in a car shot to death in their Irvine condominium complex. (SGVN/Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb)

San Gabriel Valley Newspapers

Late on Sunday morning, Monica Quan, an assistant coach on the Cal. State Fullerton women’s basketball team, was shot to death in her car along with her fiancée, allegedly by an ex-cop looking to exact revenge for being fired.

Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, was fired in 2009 stemming from an incident where it was determined he falsely reported a training officer for kicking a schizophrenic man. Quan’s father, Randy, is a retired LAPD captain who took part in Dorner’s dismissal process. In a manifesto obtained by police, Dorner reportedly said “I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours.”

That’s all it took to end the life of 28-year-old Monica Quan and her 27-year-old fiancé, Keith Lawrence.

Some of Quan’s players, and other CSUF athletes, reacted to the news on twitter:

Lord I hope they find this failure of a man.

— chelsea austin.(@ucantSEA_CHEL) February 7, 2013


If only this were a bad dream that I would wake up from...

— Mya Olivier (@missmyaa) February 7, 2013


Others had a much stronger reaction.

“There really are no words to convey the sadness we feel at the loss, those of us who have had the privilege of working with her,” CSF head coach Marcia Foster said on Monday afternoon. “A really bright light was put out way too soon — someone whose passion was impacting young women with the game of basketball. As an assistant, she was someone I counted on to tell me the truth. I loved that about her; I loved her work ethic and her passion for life. We are going to have some work to do because too many young women have been affected by this.”

Quan was in her second season as a member of the Titan staff after spending two years as a member of the Cal Lutheran University coaching staff. After spending four seasons as a letter-winner at Walnut Creek High, she enrolled at Long Beach State and played for two years with the 49ers before transferring to Concordia University for her final two seasons. It was there that she met Lawrence, who played for the Concordia men’s team.

Lawrence’s claim-to-fame was a double-pump three that he hit at the end of the third overtime in the semifinals of the NAIA National Tournament to force a fourth overtime. He had since become a Department of Public Safety officer with USC.

Alumni, family and friends gathered at Walnut High School on Monday night to hold a candlelight vigil for Quan and her fiancé.

forsale

Friends and family of Walnut High alum Monica Quan, 28, gather for a candle light memorial on the steps of the Walnut High campus Feb. 4, 2013. Quan, a CSU Fullerton assistant basketball coach and her fiancé were found in a car shot to death in their Irvine condominium complex. (SGVN/Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb)

San Gabriel Valley Newspapers

(Image via Inside SoCal)

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.