PINE LAKE -- Authorities on Friday identified the man accused of killing a Pine Lake police officer and then turning the gun on himself during a routine traffic stop Thursday outside a Pine Lake post office.

Cedric O'Neal Gordon, 31, of Racine, Wis., was the driver of the blue Chevrolet Suburban that was pulled over by Pine Lake Officer Francis Ortega and his partner, authorities said. Gordon, who had been involved in a police standoff before, had a previous criminal history and was wanted in his home state for violating his supervised release from prison, police said.

Ortega's family and colleagues were mourning the loss of the public servant, who was fatally shot at point-blank range Thursday afternoon during a traffic stop in which the gunman apparently committed suicide while hiding from other officers inside a nearby post office.

Ortega, who worked on the force part time, was pronounced dead after he was rushed for medical treatment to DeKalb Medical Center.

"It's very, very, very hard for me," said his father, Francisco Ortega, through tears Thursday night. "He called me this morning to see what I was doing."

The incident stunned onlookers and prompted an enormous response from the DeKalb police force, who summoned the SWAT team and other officers to the chaotic scene.

Traffic Stop Goes Awry

The incident occurred Thursday shortly before 5 p.m. outside the Pine Lake post office at Rockbridge Road and Spring Drive.

"It was unreal." - Witness Julius Thompson

Law enforcement sources said the incident apparently began when the officer pulled the suspect's blue Chevrolet Suburban over during a traffic stop. The incident escalated and the suspect pulled out a gun. It was not immediately clear whose gun was used during the shooting.

Susan Boozer told Channel 2 Action News that she had just pulled into the post office to check her mail as the incident was unfolding.

Boozer, 53, said she saw blue lights and "thought it was just somebody getting stopped for a speeding ticket."

Then, she said she saw two Pine Lake police officers near a parked blue SUV, one with his gun drawn. Then, she saw the man with his arm around the chest of one of the officers and shouting at the other "'Go on and shoot. Go on and shoot."'

She said the man was wearing a red sweatshirt and was holding the officer hostage at gunpoint while holding other officers at bay. She said the suspect fired first and the other officers returned fire.

After that, the suspect shot the officer, she said.

"He appeared very lifeless," Boozer said, adding that the suspect then fled into the post office. "I was scared to death."

Witnesses Recount Horror of Incident

"You could hear the bullets coming inside and hitting the boxes," said John Strock, who works at the postal facility and was in the rear of the facility when the suspect ran inside. "He was banging on the door ... and he was trying to get in there with us."

Strock said he saw the man's body after he turned the gun on himself. He said he is sure that the man committed suicide.

The DeKalb SWAT team was called to assist Pine Lake police, who shut down nearby streets while they responded to the call.

The gunman was alone in the building as all four postal employees had managed to escape through the back at the time of the shooting, said Paul Krenn, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Artrail Printep said she saw the officer when he pulled the suspect's SUV over.

"It was a regular routine traffic stop," she said, adding that everything appeared normal at first. The officer returned to his car but the suspect then walked over to the policeman's car, where a scuffle ensued. The suspect then placed the officer in a headlock.

That is apparently when a second officer and the gunman traded fire after Ortega had been shot. Printep told police that the man tried to return to his SUV and leave the scene but other officers had arrived by that time, prompting the man to run on foot.

"It was unreal," said Julius Thompson, who witnessed part of the scene.

The post office was open at the time of the incident at around 5 p.m. Krenn didn't know if there were any customers inside at the time.

Ortega's father said the slain officer worked three jobs, including a full-time job as an officer at Georgia Regional Hospital and a part-time job at a nightclub. The officer's father said the cop was trying to make ends meet for his 6-year-old son.

As of early Friday, funeral arrangements for the younger Ortega were pending.

Suspected Gunman's Troubled Past

While Georgia authorities continued to investigate Friday a motive for the shooting, officials in Wisconsin said Gordon had a criminal record there for violent offenses and had been involved in a standoff before.

On March 27, 1999, Gordon barricaded himself inside a house in Racine after police responded to a report of shots being fired outside a nearby residence. A SWAT team was called in and negotiators managed to get him to come out safely, said Sgt. William Macemon, a Racine police spokesman.

"We've had many contacts with him over the years," Macemon said.

In 1991, Gordon was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by two years probation for convictions for armed robbery and battery in Racine County, said John Dipko, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

He was released on a supervised basis in 1998, but that was revoked the following year because he was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and recklessly endangering public safety in connection with the Racine standoff incident, officials said.

Afterward, Gordon was ordered to serve the more than three years that remained on his prior sentence, Dipko said. He also was sentenced on the new offenses to seven years in prison followed by three years on probation.

Gordon was released again on a supervised basis on Nov. 18, 2003. On March 30, 2005, a warrant was issued for him after he failed to report to his community supervision agent, Dipko said, adding that officials were still searching for Gordon at the time of Thursday's shooting.

wsbtv.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles and Channel 2 Action News reporters Elenora Andrews, Richard Elliot, Tracy Martinez, Lori Geary and Tom Jones contributed to this report.