In San Clemente, shooting divides Marines, deputies In seaside San Clemente, both uniforms are a familiar sight. The town is perched on the southern tip of Orange County, sharing a border with the sprawling Camp Pendleton Marine base. It's a place where Orange County sheriff's deputies who patrol the city and Marines who live and shop there intermingle frequently. But the pre-dawn shooting death this month of an unarmed Marine in a darkened parking lot at the local high school has driven a wedge between the groups in a way nothing has before. Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was 31, a big, muscular Marine who had competed as a bodybuilder and frequently took his family to the San Clemente High School running track for early-morning "prayer walks." On the morning of Feb. 7, a sheriff's deputy - himself a former Marine - fired into Loggins' white GMC Yukon, fatally wounding him as two of his young daughters sat in a back seat. Loggins, who had smashed through a gate to get onto campus and then stalked onto the track, repeatedly failed to heed the commands of the deputy who asked him to stop, and then tried to drive away, authorities said. First, the Sheriff's Department explained the shooting by saying the deputy had feared for his life, but did not say why the veteran lawman believed he was in danger. Then, as outrage mounted, the department announced the deputy had feared - not for himself - but for the safety of Loggins' 14- and 9-year-old children. The sheriff's union, in a rare move, spoke publicly about the shooting, even as the case was still being investigated and details remained sketchy. The union said Loggins had been acting "irrationally," putting his daughters at risk and ultimately setting up his own death. Union officials said Loggins was not the respectful, straight-arrow man that friends had described. A day later, Camp Pendleton's commanding officer fired back, denouncing the union's remarks as "incorrect and deeply hurtful," suggesting they had unfairly maligned Loggins' character and upset the man's widow, who was pregnant. Loggins, his friends said, he was a deeply religious family man with a non-confrontational nature, and stood as a mentor to younger Marines. Website message boards are ablaze with angry debate about the case, and a Facebook page called "We Miss You Sgt. Manny Loggins" features commentary on every new scrap of information that is released. A memorial for Loggins, planned for this weekend, was canceled over concern it might provoke further fury. Loggins' friend Yana Pollard, 23, of Mission Viejo, said she organized the memorial - to take place in front of the sheriff's station in San Clemente - as "a show of support for Manny and his family." In addition, Pollard said, "we wanted to let the police know that we all respected Manny, and we hoped the right thing was done." When the memorial was announced online "it got really huge, really quickly," she said. I don't think the Loggins family or myself knew how many people would respond. Some of the online responses were troubling, she said. "It turned into a fight," she said. "This wasn't about pointing fingers," she said. It was to mourn someone we lost. Instead, she said, the online posts focused on "Who's responsible? Who can we burn at the stake? Pollard said the Loggins family asked her to delay the memorial. "Right now they want to do something that's smaller and a little bit more private," she said. The Orange County Sheriff's Department has not released the name of the deputy who shot Loggins, describing him only as a 15-year veteran and former Marine. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said the department had received multiple public records requests for the deputy's name. But someone has threatened the deputy and investigators said they will not released his name until they determine how serious the threat is, he said. Amormino said sheriff's cruisers typically have video cameras that record what happens in front of the vehicle. He said he did not know if the confrontation with Loggins had been recorded. Wayne Eggleston, the former mayor of San Clemente, is helping raise educational funds for Loggins' daughters. He said of the Marine's widow: "She's left with three kids, and she's pregnant with a fourth." A Camp Pendleton spokesperson said there will be a memorial service for Loggins on Friday, but it will not be open to the public or the media. Mark Raymond, 27, of Austin, Texas, served with Loggins in Hawaii and saw him as a father figure. "He was a sweet guy ... he always had your back," Raymond said, describing Loggins as a large man, about 6 feet tall. You don't want to mess with him. But when you talk to him, you realize there's nothing to be scared about.