Officer Apparently Kills Himself at Station

An off-duty La Habra police officer died early Sunday morning after an apparently self-inflicted gunshot to the head, law enforcement officials said.

Officer Brian Wichman, 30, who had been on medical leave for about a year because of a work-related back injury, went to the police station, got into a patrol car parked behind the building and shot himself with what investigators believe was a police-issued rifle, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Fellow officers returning to the station from patrol found Wichman in the car near death shortly after midnight. Paramedics were immediately called to the scene and Wichman was transported to Brea Community Hospital, where he died.

“We’re just kind of stunned,” Sgt. Mel Ruiz said. “It’s not something that happens in La Habra too often.”

Department officials released few details Sunday, but sources said foul play has been ruled out. The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the death, standard procedure in officer-involved shootings.

Investigators are trying to determine why Wichman would take his own life, including whether he was despondent over his back injury and long absence from the job, a source said. Police would not say whether a suicide note was found in the patrol car.

Ruiz also was not clear how Wichman got into the car. Keys to the patrol cars are usually kept inside the station, though one source said the car may have been unlocked. Investigators were also unsure if the rifle was already in the car or if Wichman took it from the station.

A preliminary examination of the body was performed Sunday, but the results were not released because more tests were pending, said Orange County coroner’s deputy Cullen Ellingburgh.

Ruiz described Wichman, who was with the department for five years, as “an outstanding, very educated young man.”

“He was just a fine representative of the department,” Ruiz said.

Friends and relatives gathered Sunday at Wichman’s Fullerton home, where he and his wife, Tamara, have lived for two years. The couple have no children.

“We are devastated in our grief,” one family friend said. “We have no comment.”

Neighbors in the close-knit community said they were shocked.

One neighbor, who asked not to be named, said: “They are wonderful people. Brian is a nice, friendly person. He’d help out with whatever you needed help with. They came to all the neighborhood parties.”

Wichman started his career in law enforcement as a reserve officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in 1991.

He became a reserve officer with the Costa Mesa Police Department in 1993 and joined the La Habra department as a full-time officer in 1995.

The last active La Habra officer to die was Michael Osornio, killed by a drunk driver who ran a stoplight and plowed into his patrol car in 1994.

In 1999, more than twice as many police officers committed suicide than were killed in the line of duty. So far this year, more than 300 police officers have committed suicide, a phenomenon some police psychologists call the “hidden epidemic.”

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Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.