Gunnar Mason

## Introduction

**Gunnar Mason** was an Officer of the Los Santos Police Department.

## Biography

### Background

26-year-old Gunnar Mason grew up in the Los Santos and Fresno areas. Given up for adoption at a young age, Mason sadly spent his life in foster care; he does not know who his biological parents are and has one biological brother, Jacob Jackson. In his late teens, he worked at an In-and-Out while going to California State University, Fresno (or Fresno State), where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminology. Before entering the police academy, Mason also worked security for a mall.

### Rise through the Ranks

Mason joined the Blaine County Sheriff's Office on November 2nd, riding along with then-Sergeant Mike Bayo and was quickly promoted to Captain. On November 27th, Gunnar Mason was appointed the Chief of Police for the Los Santos Police Department and left the BCSO. Unfortunately, several months later on February 4th, city administrators asked Mason to step down as Chief of Police, and then-Assistant Chief Tony Andrews became Chief of Police and Mason was appointed Assistant Chief of Police.

However, city administrators and council members had been reviewing city and county expenditures, and not simply because Mason crashed Air 1 on February 18th, temporarily losing his level 1 air certification. On February 27th, 2018, both BCSO and LSPD found their stations locked, with city councilmembers announcing that the LSPD and BCSO had been defunded. Instead, all former BCSO deputies and LSPD officers would form the new San Andreas State Police, with Tony Andrews as the Director and Mason in the position of Assistant Director (informally, Ass. Director or Ass. Dic.).

On June 19th, Mason officially resigned the position of Assistant Director, taking a leave of absence, and was given the new rank of Captain. Former Lieutenant William McBride took his place as Assistant Director. Due to his vacation from the city, he was reduced to the rank of Master Trooper on December 6, 2018. Mason returned to work part time in mid-February of 2019.

As of July 1st, the San Andreas State Police has split into three separate departments, causing all former troopers to be reassigned to different departments.

### The War on Boris Nightly

Before Nightly's death, Mason had an on-going antagonistic relationship with Boris Nightly; it would be appropriate to say that Boris was Mason's arch-nemesis. Mason often visited Nightly in jail and Nightly frequently made threatening and ominous phone calls to Mason, both increasing in frequency in the lead-up to the prison break.

On March 3rd, a man calling himself Tony Marcus called 311 looking for Mason, looking into becoming a confidential informant. While in the Director's office, "Marcus" stabbed Mason and ran, shouting that it was for Boris, indicating that he was sent by Boris Nightly to assassinate Mason. The blade lacerated Mason's kidney and perforated his lower intestines; he was sent to the ICU in critical condition at Pillbox Medical but made a full recovery.

On March 8th, Rusty Dawns, Dash Armstrong, Leroy Campbell, and Boris Nightly escaped prison with the help of a crooked prison guard. After weeks of ominous threatening phone calls to Mason, Boris took then-Director Andrews hostage and demanded Mason come to Pillbox Bank in exchange for Andrews' life. Boris then held Mason at gunpoint on the roof of the bank and forced him to the ledge. Boris gave Mason an ultimatum: either he pushes Boris off the building or Boris would shoot Mason. Mason, feeling his life was in danger, pushed Boris off the roof, killing him. When Mason came down, the remaining three kidnapped Mason and took him to Paleto where they forced him at gunpoint onto a fuel tanker. In revenge for killing Boris, the three shot the tanker, which exploded with Mason on it. Despite the severity of his burns and other injuries, Mason survived.

After speaking to Zoey Lyrais at the Parson's Clinic about his PTSD from the incident, she recommended a few days of ride-alongs before he fully returned to duty to test his fitness. Mason fully returned to duty several days later without problems. However, his PTSD from the incident continued to haunt him, manifesting as flashbacks and seeing someone on the roof of Pillbox Bank.

On April 18th, Rusty Dawns and Leroy Campbell reappeared, with Rusty alerting Mason of his activities with a series of threatening phone calls and anonymous ads reading "#ForBoris". Rusty first stole a tanker truck and blew it up at Mission Row; no troopers were at Mission Row, although Jerry Cahn narrowly avoided being caught in the explosion and Mason had left Mission Row only moments before. After telling Mason in a phone call, "everything that happens tonight is your fault," Rusty immediately opened fire on the Bahama Mama's, critically injuring then-Trooper Legs Macready, seriously injuring then-Senior Trooper Sam Holtz, and injuring then-Trooper Cadet Ayda Clarke. Trooper Clarke later shot Rusty, allowing then-Captain Dazzler to arrest him, sending him back to jail.

On May 1st, Mason entered Bolingbroke with several other troopers to tend to injured prisoners. While speaking to one, everyone heard Rusty laugh in the yard. Not finding Rusty anywhere in the vicinity, everyone left the prison once the call was cleared. However, moments after Mason left the prison grounds, Bayo was attacked by Rusty, and Mason and the other troopers were forced to returned and tend to him. Mason and Rusty issued threats to one another, but the encounter with Rusty left Mason shaken and Mason resumed having flashbacks of the day the Bolingbroke Four escaped, even seeing people on the roof of the bank again.

Upon Mason's return to the city after an extended leave of absence, he began receiving mysterious text messages from an unknown number. The text messages hinted at Mason's past experiences with Boris, including messages like, "Do you still dream about that day, Mason?" "Tick tock, Mason" and "Justice for Jerry? Heh. #ForBoris." On October 9th 2018, Mason started receiving threatening texts from this unknown number, including one stating, "I just want justice for what you did. You're a murderer," as well as images of his childhood home and a gas can, and of his former house. Upon arriving at both scenes, no one was around, but at his former house, he found a switchblade and "MASON" written in blood on the driveway. While clearing the property, he received a text message saying, "Wake up," referencing the vision he had while unconscious after his final encounter with Boris and being blown up by Rusty. Mason then visited the site of the tanker explosion, which fully triggered his PTSD; he became too distraught to retain control of his truck and drove over the guardrails on the Great Ocean Highway. Mason sustained broken arms and right leg, multiple cuts and scrapes to his face and body, and was unresponsive to EMS actions. He was rushed to Pillbox Medical where his condition was critical. However, despite the severity of his accident, Mason survived; during a long period of absence, Mason underwent physical and psychological therapy, after which he took a much-needed break from the city.

On March 25th, 2019, Mason received a text from an unknown number, saying "I miss you.. hope you miss me." After some back and forth and Mason challenging the sender to show themselves, the sender said, "show yourself, I'm in the same place you left me.... for now." Mason was alone on duty at the time and luckily, Luke and Ronnie Walker were at Mission Row with Mason when the texts came in. Mason informed them of the situation, and that he suspected it was Rusty Dawns. As he left Mission Row, he attempted to call the number several times before finally getting through and confirming that Rusty was the sender; Rusty informed him that he had "news" and that Mason should come to Bolingbroke to find it out. On his way up to Bolingbroke, Mason put out the call to any on-call troopers, to which Captain Macready and Commissioner McBride answered. Luke and Ronnie staged outside Bolingbroke while Mason, Macready, and McBride entered with lethals drawn. Upon entering the yard, they noticed the last inmate Mason jailed downed with a boot print to the face and scrapes and bruises, Rusty watching nearby. As the Walkers entered the jail to tend to the inmate, Mason talked to Rusty, with Macready and McBride protecting everyone inside. After his typical taunts, Rusty told Mason that he was being released soon and that they'd be seeing more of each other. Unfortunately, once the downed inmate was well enough, he ran up and sucker-punched Rusty, giving Mason an opportunity to safely cuff and search him. Finding nothing on him, Mason released him and all the troopers gave Rusty their own form of goodbye, Mason's being two big middle fingers. As everyone left the prison grounds, Rusty put out an ad with his name on it, saying simply, "#ForBoris." Despite seeming to be less rattled than his previous encounters with members of the Bolingbroke Four or even serial killer Jasper Elliot, who had attacked Jackson and threatened Mason's life, Mason ended his shift and took his old watch spot over Bolingbroke.

### The Fall of a Good Man

On February 4th 2020, Gunnar Mason comes back to the city to find that Mackenzie Hayes, Devin King, Jeffrey Connors and Jacob Jackson are dead. He snaps, especially after the loss of Jessie Slater to Luca Gambino and Jackson (his biological brother) to Joseph Uldrich. Mason inquires about where Joey Uldrich is currently staying and he is advised that Joey is currently being held in Bolingbroke State Penitentary. After stalking around in an all black outfit with a mask, he (in uniform and on duty) walks into the prison and brings Joey and Luca into the lawyer meeting room. He begins to interrogate them and he slowly starts breaking and losing his temper. Joey admits to killing Jackson and leans his head against the barrel of Mason's gun and asks Mason to shoot him. Mason then shoots Joey and Luca multiple times. Other inmates (Ying Saren included) hear/see this and freaks out. Mason is on the radio but ignores all calls attempting to contact him. Mason drove out of the prison and used his car as a barricade to block off medical treatment for the inmates he shot, claiming he wants them to die in the blood they are laying in. Mason claimed that it wasn't fair that inmates who take other people's lives, such as Jessie and Jackson, his family, get to live out their lives in a "day care" while other people don't get to live their lives at all. After an intense standoff with the other officers at Bolingbroke, Mason gives himself up. He was given the opportunity to do his own last call before being sent to Bolingbroke for the 9999s pending charges.

### Adam Stone

Despite arriving after he died, Mason feels a closeness to Adam Stone, an officer that died in the line of duty during a police operation in Orchardville. Starting with his arrival in Los Santos, each time something important happens in Mason's life, he visits Adam Stone's grave and speaks to him, seemingly paying his respects to the officer that came before him. Mason recalled to Torah that when he was unconscious in the hospital after being stabbed by Campbell, he was visited by Adam, who told him that he was still needed and that it wasn't his time. Because of this, Mason feels a close, inexplicable spiritual connection to Stone.

When Mason returned after his near-fatal PTSD-induced car accident, Mason met local taco truck vendor Marco Holliday and his simple friend Jeremy Holden. Despite their near-instant connection and friendship, Marco constantly hinted at a criminal past, but was reluctant to disclose the nature of his past crime. After cornering Holden and questioning him, Mason discovered that Marco was very close to Adam Stone and might have been involved in Adam's death. Mason did further research in the case files, discovering that not only was Marco involved in Adam's death, but also he was the indirect cause.

Back in early October of 2017, while in prison for stealing and crashing a helicopter, Marco became involved in the Vagos gang, and after he was released, began to associate with Vagos. He blamed Adam and his friend Norman Jayden for his imprisonment, and later attacked Norman and fled. On October 26th, Marco, tired of running from his crimes and his friends, attempted to surrender himself. However, the local Vagos members didn't appreciate the SWAT operation in the Orchardville area and started firing on police; Marco tried to flee to safety and Adam followed after him. Adam attempted to take cover behind a van, but unfortunately, the van was parked near a gas tank that had been shot and ultimately exploded; Adam was caught in the explosion and was not able to fight his injuries. Marco was arrested for his involvement in Adam's death and imprisoned, later returning to the city hoping to start fresh.

### Relationships

Mason was put up for adoption as a toddler and does not know his biological parents. However, in his wallet, Mason kept a childhood drawing of his family showing himself, his mother, his father, and a dog. On May 9th, Mason was approached by Jacob Jackson, who himself was put up for adoption as a young child; Jackson was born in Los Santos as well and adopted by an Australian family, while Mason was never adopted and instead grew up in foster care. Jackson presented Mason with a nearly identical drawing to his own, except Jackson's included a brother in the scene. Jackson revealed that he thought he and Mason were brothers, and a DNA test revealed that Mason and Jackson were a 99.8% genetic match as siblings. In the past, people had commented on Jackson and Mason's similar appearance and the two bonded over their eerily similar backgrounds.

Mason is particularly close to Johnny Dazzler, who is both one of his best friends and someone that he sees as a brother. Dazzler's father Slappy McGaffey also has unofficially adopted Mason, further cementing their brotherly relationship. Mason is also extremely close to Tony Andrews, and Mason has stated that he considers Torah Andrews to be like a sister to him. When Mike Bayo was in the hospital after an assassination attempt, Mason described him as one of his best friends and almost family; Bayo has Mason listed as one of his emergency contacts.

With Mason's similar personality to Adam Stone, this caught the eye of Jessie Slater who he became close friends with. Mason and Jessie had a relationship that was more of a "protective older brother" and "troubled little sister". Mason reminded Jessie a lot of Adam and she found comfort in knowing that. With Jessie being very involved in the criminal world and Mason being in the SASP, they tended to bump heads often.

Mason has, for the most part, avoided romantic relationships, stating that he is married to his job. However, this has not stopped him from having flirtatious encounters and friendships with several women.