How to donate to the families of the slain Oakland police officers

The Oakland Police Officers Association so far has set up three accounts on behalf of the families and children of three of the four police officers gunned down in two related incidents in East Oakland Saturday afternoon.

The officers killed were: Sgt. Erv Romans, 43, of Danville; Sgt. Dan Sakai, 35, of Castro Valley; Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, of Tracy and formerly of Pleasanton; and Officer John Hege, 41, of Concord.

Dunakin and Hege were the first ones injured on Saturday afternoon, just after 1 p.m. in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard. They were fatally wounded during a traffic stop with a parolee, Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland. Mixon was wanted on a no-bail warrant for violating his parole. News reports say that Mixon shot them with a semi-automatic pistol, and that, once the wounded officers were lying on the ground, he stood over them and shot them again, before fleeing with his gun.

Around two hours later, Romans and Sakai, both members of the Oakland police SWAT team, were shot while trying to enter an apartment about a block from where their fellow officers were wounded. The San Francisco Chronicle says a woman, who didn't want to be identified, tipped police off to the likelihood that Mixon was hiding in his sister's nearby apartment. Mixon fired at the officers with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The Chronicle also reported that Mixon was suspected in the 2007 killing of a 42-year-old man in Oakland and had just been linked, through DNA evidence, to an unsolved rape earlier in the year.

As details continued to emerge about Mixon's background and criminal history, focus also shifted to the officers and the well-being of their families.

Romans, of Danville, was a former Marine Corps drill sergeant who joined the Oakland Police Department in 1996 and became a member of the SWAT team. He leaves behind three children.

Dan Sakai, who joined the department in 2000, had a 4-year-old daughter.

Dunakin, a traffic sergeant who started in Oakland in 1991, was married and had three children. He grew up in Pleasanton and is a 1987 graduate of Foothill High school.

Hege, a motorcycle officer, graduated from St. Mary's College and taught physical education for a few years before joining the Oakland Police Department. He didn't have any children.

You can make a contribution to trust funds in two ways, by wire transfer or by check.

Wire transfers can be made directly to the following Merrill Lynch accounts: The Romans Children's Family Trust, Acct. No. 204-04066; The Sakai Family Trust, Acct. No. 204-04064; The Dunakin Children's Family Trust, Acct. No. 204-04065.

As of Monday afternoon, no fund had been set up on behalf of John Hege.

Individual checks can also be made out to the families and mailed to the Oakland Police Officer's Association, Attn: Rennee Hassna, 555 5th Street, Oakland, CA, 94607. Make checks payable to the Romans Children's Family Trust; the Sakai Family Trust; the Dunakin Children's Family Trust.