Fundraiser to Be Held for El Cajon Police Officer Injured in Shootout

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An El Cajon police officer wounded in a will be retired from the force due to those injuries, and a fundraiser for his young family was in the works Thursday, according to a city spokeswoman.

The El Cajon Police Officer's Association and the El Cajon Elks Lodge 1812 are co-hosting the fundraiser on Aug. 10 -- nearly one year to the day Officer Jared Slocum almost lost his life. According to El Cajon city spokeswoman Monica Zech, the evening event at the Elks Lodge on East Washington Avenue will feature food and drinks.

Slocum, a married father of two young children, was shot in the head by Kevin Collier during a series of violent events on Aug. 21 that left three people dead, the officer wounded and a house burned to the ground. El Cajon police said Collier was apparently distraught over his pending divorce when he shot the couple's 14-month-old daughter, Rhilee, and his wife's mother, Beverli Rakov.

Both the toddler and her grandmother died from gunshot wounds to the head, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

Collier and his wife were married for a year-and-a-half. She filed for divorce four days prior to the killings and was seeking full custody of Rhilee. Collier, who was 32 at the time, texted friends that he had killed his daughter and mother-in-law, police said.

Authorities went to Rakov's house in the 1000 block of Prince Street and found the home was on fire. Collier fired on officers several times, striking Slocum, then 28, in his left temple, police said.

Slocum's rookie partner, Officer Tim McFarland, pulled Slocum out of the line of fire with help from a Good Samaritan, later identified as Dave Lembcke. At the time, Slocum was a four-year veteran of the ECPD.

The house became fully engulfed by flames during the incident. Once the fire was out, the bodies of Collier and his mother-in-law were found amid the debris. The county coroner's office ruled Collier shot himself in the head.

Rhilee's body was found in a nearby pickup.

-City News Service