Cop killer and two-time death row inmate dies in his cell at San Quentin
By: Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — A man who was twice sentenced to death for killing a Garden Grove police officer nearly 40 years ago died at San Quentin State Prison on Sunday, authorities said.
John George Brown, 71, was found unconscious in his cell shortly after 6:15 p.m., according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prison staff tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead about 6:45 p.m., officials said.
Brown was convicted of shooting and killing Officer Donald Reed, 27, in a Garden Grove bar on June 7, 1980, as Reed and three other officers tried to arrest Brown on drug and assault warrants. The shooting, which news accounts described as one of the bloodiest in Orange County history, wounded four other people — two officers and two bar patrons.
