An assistant women's basketball coach from University of California-Fullerton, along with her fiance were shot to death in a car on Sunday night.
Monica Quan, a stand-out player, coach and admired within her community, along with her fiancé Keith Lawrence, were found at around 9 p.m., murdered in her car on the top floor of a parking complex near a high security condominium.
Police said the couple had both been shot multiple times. According to The Los Angeles Times, authorities have ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide or theft.
"It does not appear they were robbed," Irvine Police Lt. Julia Engen told the Orange County Register. "There's no obvious motive."
Quan and Lawrence were two highly regarded basketball players. Quan, after an excellent high school and college career, became the assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton, and was also a 2002 graduate of Walnut High School, setting records for the most three-pointers in a season, and game, according to news reports. She played at Long Beach State and at Concordia, where she graduated in 2007. She earned a master's degree before becoming an assistant coach at Fullerton. She also was the daughter of a Los Angeles Police Department captain. The two recently announced their engagement. Lawrence was a campus officer at USC.
Marcia Foster, the head basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton, described her assistant as a special person: "bright, passionate and empowering."
"I'm sorry we're gathered here today for news like this," Foster said at a campus news conference Monday. "There just aren't words."
Michelle Thibeault, 27, said in a Facebook message that she had known Quan for more than a decade. The two were on the same athletic teams and went to junior high and high school together.
"Monica was loved by everyone," she said.
"The loss of any member of the Titan family causes our community great grief, but the loss of one of our own under these circumstances is indeed tragic and heart-wrenching. We hope that Monica's family and friends will feel and be comforted by our support during this difficult time," Cal State President Mildred Garcia said in a public statement.
As police continue their investigation further, Quan's friends and family held a vigil outside her high school on Monday with many of her supporters in attendance.
