Gerald Mason

Gerald Mason (born January 26, 1934) is an American rapist and cop killer. Mason's 2003 arrest and prosecution for the 1957 murder of two El Segundo, California police officers made national headlines.

Born in Columbia, South Carolina, he was arrested and did time for burglary in that state in 1956. After his release in 1957, then aged 23, he hitchhiked his way to California, stopping in Shreveport, Louisiana where he purchased a revolver using an alias. He later stated that it was purchased for protection while hitchhiking.

In Hawthorne, California, Mason came upon four teenagers at a local lover's lane. Drawing his revolver, Mason forced the two couples to strip down to their underwear and bound and blindfolded them. He then raped one of the girls. Leaving the teens alive as they were, Mason then drove off in their 1949 Ford sedan, ran a red light, and was pulled over by Officers Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis of the El Segundo Police Department.

Mason later recalled, "I thought, 'If I don't get them, they're gonna get me.' So when the officer turned away from me, I shot both officers, got back in the car and drove away." Backup units and medical personnel arrived onscene to find Curtis dead in his patrol car, with Phillips lying mortally wounded on the ground. Both had been shot three times. Meanwhile, Mason, who had been wounded by a bullet from Officer Phillips, dumped the car and fled through numerous backyards before hitchhiking his way to safety.

The murders of Officers Phillips and Curtis touched off a homicide investigation that continued for more than half a century. In 1960, the murder weapon was recovered a mile from the crime in a back yard. The serial number was traced to a purchase at Sears in Shreveport, Louisiana, under the alias George D. Wilson. The signature was matched to "Wilson's" signature on a YMCA receipt, located near the Sears store. El Segundo detectives proceeded to track down every George D. Wilson in the United States. However, all were ruled out and the investigation went cold.

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