Man killed in double Irvine slaying was USC campus officer

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A man who was found shot to death in his car along with his fiancée late Sunday was a public safety officer at USC, department officials said.

Keith Lawrence, 27, and Monica Quan were found slumped in a parked car in an upscale Irvine condominium complex where the couple lived.

Both were stand-out basketball players at Concordian University in Irvine, where both graduated. Quan was currently the assistant women’s basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Authorities said Monday that there is no clear motive in the deaths, which involved “multiple gunshots,” said Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen. She said neither victim appeared to have been robbed.

Lawrence, a graduate of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Academy, joined USC’s Department of Public Safety in August 2012, according to a department statement by Chief and Executive Director John Thomas.

Thomas said that Lawrence, a graduate of Concordia University, was an “honorable, compassionate and professional” part of the department and the “Trojan family.”

“We are a better department and the USC Campus Community is a safer place as a result of his service,” Thomas said.

Thomas called the slayings a “senseless act of violence.” Marcia Foster, the head basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton, described Quan as a special person who was ‘bright, passionate and empowering.

‘We just shared a moment of incredible joy on her recent engagement,’ Quan’s brother Ryan said in a statement.

‘A bright light was just put out’

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-- Nicole Santa Cruz, Kate Mather and Lauren Williams