Jan. 4, 2003, 12:32AM

By JOHN W. GONZALEZ Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

SAN ANTONIO -- A rookie patrolman was hailed for his heroism Friday for slaying a rampaging parolee who shot him four times and wounded three other police officers after a lover's quarrel erupted in a crowded restaurant.

All four wounded officers remained hospitalized Friday, two of them -- including the rookie -- in critical condition.

None of a dozen bystanders was injured as at least 40 shots were fired in and around the Denny's restaurant during the 3:30 a.m. shootout, which Police Chief Albert Ortiz described as "very, very close, hand-to-hand combat. As one of the witnesses said, they stood toe-to-toe. It sounded like the gunfight at the OK Corral."

Police said most of the shots were fired from officers' guns by the assailant, Jamie Sasha Lichtenwalter, 26. The muscular strip-club bouncer, 18 months out of prison, had been feuding with his 20-year-old girlfriend, an exotic dancer whom he suspected of cheating with another man, Ortiz said.

Police theorized the man may have feared a return to prison if officers had found the shotgun he put in the girlfriend's car, a violation of parole. But police said Lichtenwalter was told he was free to go when he suddenly turned on unsuspecting officers.

The first two officers at the scene thought they had defused the situation by separating the arguing couple and ordering him to leave. But when told to exit, Lichtenwalter, who had served time for attempted murder, broke one officer's jaw with a single punch, took his gun, shot him and the second officer and began beating the fallen cops "mercilessly," Ortiz said.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003

Answers

Using both officers' guns, the suspect fired all their bullets as he tried to hit one of the officers who got up and wandered away in a daze, Ortiz said.

Lichtenwalter then ambushed two newly arrived patrolmen who rushed to the aid of one of their fallen colleagues, shooting them multiple times -- both in the neck. But officer Michael Muniz, 22, despite wounds to his neck, upper chest, buttock and thigh, managed to fatally shoot the assailant outside the restaurant.

Noting that Muniz is a five-month, probationary patrolman, the chief praised him for "the courage and valor that he showed by continuing the gunbattle and exchanging gunshots with the suspect."

When Lichtenwalter died, he fell on top of the wounded Muniz, who was unable to move him. Arriving officers pulled the body off the rookie, Ortiz said.

Present throughout the ordeal, which spilled from the restaurant into the parking lot of a neighboring motel, were the suspect's girlfriend and the man with whom she had been seen by the suspect earlier in the evening. They had met only the previous day, Ortiz said.

The woman told police her boyfriend had not acted violently toward her but was prone to jealous fits. She said before the incident, Lichtenwalter followed her as she, a girlfriend and the other man went to a country-western dance club. Later, Lichtenwalter used what Ortiz called a "ruse" to coax the girlfriend into a rendezvous at her apartment.

When she arrived there, Lichtenwalter drew a shotgun and made her accompany him to the Denny's, where the other man was dining, police said. An argument ensued and police were called, arriving three minutes later.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003

During initial negotiations, the girlfriend whispered to one of the officers that Lichtenwalter might be armed.

"She was concerned for her safety and certainly for the other people in that restaurant," Ortiz said.

Muniz and officer David Evans, 51, were in critical condition after surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center. A 25-year veteran, Evans suffered wounds to the chest, stomach and arm.

Also seriously wounded was officer Nathan Murray, 33. Shot in the back of the neck, the bullet exited through his jaw.

"It pretty much shattered his face," Ortiz said.

Detective John Bocko, 34, whose jaw was broken in several places by Lichtenwalter's fist and who also suffered a bullet graze wound, was hospitalized in good condition.

Lichtenwalter served about seven years of a 12-year sentence for a 1992 drive-by shooting in Universal City, police said. He was 16 at the time of the offense but was tried as an adult in 1995.

Prison officials said the slain man did not have a disciplinary record.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003