Man Reportedly Confesses to Killing Deputy

Conflicting portraits emerged Sunday of the unemployed laborer who authorities said has confessed to gunning down an Orange County deputy sheriff in a Lake Forest convenience store parking lot.

On Sunday, Maurice Gerald Steskal sat alone in a jail cell under a suicide watch, accused of killing Deputy Sheriff Brad Riches, the first Orange County deputy killed on patrol since 1958. Steskal is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday.

Nearly three months ago, Steskal was pulled over on a routine traffic violation and became so irate that he had to be restrained. He was booked for resisting arrest.

Neighbors, however, described Steskal, 39, as a born-again Christian who looked out for the children in his apartment complex. His wife said Sunday that the suspect’s younger brother is a sheriff’s deputy in Lee County, Florida.

Red-eyed from crying, Steskal’s Philippine-born wife, Nenita, said her husband had been drinking before the shooting, and she suspects he had psychological problems.

“My condolences go out to the family of the officer,” she said shakily, taking drags off a cigarette. “I believe he wasn’t in his right mind at the time. . . . He was just mad.

“It’s not that he hates cops, not at all,” she said. “All the neighbors here love him. He’s a very nice guy who doesn’t have any hatred for anyone.”

The motive for the killing remained unclear, but investigators are looking at Steskal’s arrest in the traffic incident on March 26 as a possible explanation.

That arrest “may have been a precursor to this; it may have been the continuation of a long-term hatred” of police, said Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo.

Steskal told his roommate, Cherie Brockway, and a neighbor that he was furious over the traffic stop and that he had been strip-searched on a busy street. Deputies said they do not strip-search suspects in public. He also believed his phone was bugged and authorities were following him, Brockway said.

At the 7-Eleven on Sunday, the spot where Riches was shot, several hundred mourners left bouquets and handwritten notes honoring the 34-year-old deputy, described as a big man with an even bigger heart.

Deena Isherwood of Trabuco Canyon stood in the parking lot weeping. She was a friend of Riches. “Things like this don’t happen around here. I don’t know how to handle it,” Isherwood said.

While people mourned Riches, the suspect’s family and friends struggled to reconcile the generally kind man they knew with the accused killer of a deputy.

Nenita Steskal said she had urged her husband to seek counseling recently. She said her husband had been drinking beer before he left the house to pick up a pack of cigarettes at the 7-Eleven. Steskal’s wife said she had never seen her husband with a gun, though he talked about owning a weapon.

Just before 1 a.m., a store video shows a man with Steskal’s close-cropped hair and piercing eyes walking into the store, an assault weapon in his left hand. Deputies say Steskal told the terrified clerk he intended not to rob the store but to use the weapon against “the pigs.”

When Riches arrived at the 7-Eleven on routine patrol, Steskal was inside.

Right after the gunman left, gunfire erupted outside.

Riches’ department-issued bulletproof vest did little to stop the onslaught. The gunman fired 31 rounds, and the bullets almost severed the victim’s arm.

“Deputy Riches was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Deputy Andre Spencer. “He didn’t have a chance at all. He was outgunned.”

While executing a search warrant at the suspect’s home, deputies discovered a rifle similar to an AK-47.

There will be a candlelight vigil for Riches at 7:30 p.m. today at Village Pond Park, behind the strip mall where the deputy was killed. Riches’ funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Saddleback Valley Church, Lake Forest.

Times staff writers Megan Garvey and Phil Willon contributed to this report.