LANCASTER, Calif. (CNS) - The man suspected in the fatal ambush shooting of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in Palmdale was charged Wednesday with murder, and the defendant -- who relatives describe as mentally ill -- pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Kevin Cataneo Salazar, 29, appeared in a Lancaster courtroom with his hands shackled to his hips, and he appeared to be wearing a bullet-proof vest. During the short arraignment hearing, a judge entered dual pleas on his behalf of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
He is due back in court Nov. 7. Salazar remains jailed without bail at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles after his arrest early Monday morning at his family's home in Palmdale.
District Attorney George Gascón and Sheriff Robert Luna were scheduled to hold a 3 p.m. news conference Wednesday to discuss the criminal case.
The murder charge against Salazar includes several special circumstance allegations, including murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle, along with an allegation of personal use of a firearm. The special circumstance allegations normally could open a defendant to a possible death sentence, but Gascón is a staunch opponent of the death penalty, meaning Salazar likely faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
If Salazar is convicted and determined to have been insane at the time of the killing, he would be confined to a state hospital rather than prison.
Salazar was arrested Monday morning following an hours-long standoff with law enforcement and a manhunt that began Saturday night, shortly after the slaying of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer near the department's Palmdale station.
The Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, reported that Salazar has confessed to the killing.
Salazar's family insisted he is not a "coward" -- as Luna called him -- but is mentally ill and not in his right mind.
Clinkunbroomer, a 30-year-old, third-generation deputy who was only recently engaged to be married, was shot around 6 p.m Saturday while sitting in his patrol car at a traffic light near the station at Sierra Highway and East Avenue Q.
Video from the scene shows a dark-colored sedan pulling up behind the patrol SUV, then slowly pulling alongside the driver's side of the deputy's vehicle, pausing, then driving away.
Sheriff's officials said a good Samaritan stopped to render aid after the shooting and the wounded deputy was taken to Antelope Valley Medical Center in grave condition. He was pronounced dead that night.
Early Monday morning, sheriff's deputies in tactical gear and armored vehicles -- working off tips from the public -- descended on Salazar's family home, initiating a standoff that finally ended when Special Enforcement Bureau personnel flushed him out with "chemical agents," Luna said at a Monday news conference.
Luna said "numerous firearms" were also recovered following the arrest, and that deputies seized a dark-colored sedan that was believed to be linked to the killing.
"Thirty-six hours after the murder of our deputy, the men and women of our department arrested him early this morning," Luna said Monday.
Luna said Clinkunbroomer was "murdered, ambushed by a coward."
But Salazar's mother and sister told reporters he is mentally ill.
"My brother, he's getting called a coward," Salazar's sister, Jessica, told reporters Monday. "He wasn't in his right state of mind."
"I do want you guys to know that my brother did have schizophrenia," she said. "He has paranoia. He heard voices. We're not justifying, we don't know if he did (the shooting), if he did not. We are not justifying anything. We feel for the family. It hurts.
"... Nobody wishes to go through that. There are a lot of people that know, have family members with the same situation will understand, will understand how it is so hard to want to help a loved one and knowing that their mind is not at the right state of mind."
She said her family is praying for the Clinkunbroomer family, but added there are "two sides to the story."
"Just please, don't punish him like if he was a regular person. He's sick," she said.
Luna's mother, Marle Salazar, also told reporters her son was mentally ill and had stopped taking his medication, but they were unable to get him the help that he needed. She told the Los Angeles Times the family called sheriff's deputies at least twice because he refused to take his medication, but she was told there was nothing they could do.
She also told the paper that her son was never violent or aggressive toward anyone else, but tried twice to take his own life because of the persistent voices he would hear in his head. She said her son was acting normally Saturday night at home after the shooting occurred.
She also said she was unaware her son owned any firearms, but said an investigators told her that he had legally purchased a weapon. It was unclear how someone with mental illness was able to purchase a gun.
Luna, speaking at Monday's news conference, suggested Salazar's mental health should not make a difference in his prosecution.
"Whether mental health is a factor or not, think about this. If I had to go to your family and tell that you were not coming home and you were just murdered, does it matter?" Luna said.
Luna said a motive for the killing remains a mystery.
"We don't know yet, but we intend to find out," the sheriff said.
He said tips from the public led investigators to Salazar. The Times reported that a man who had allegedly been involved in a road-rage confrontation with Salazar was among those who contacted authorities.
At Monday's news conference, Luna read a statement from Clinkunbroomer's family.
"Our son Ryan was a dedicated hard-working deputy sheriff who enjoyed working here at the Palmdale station," according to the family.
"He was proud to work along the side of his partners that he considered brothers and sisters as he sacrificed daily to better the community that he served. Ryan made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. Ryan was recently engaged to the love of his life. As our first-born son, Ryan will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the sheriff's department as a whole. Please keep Ryan's family, friends and colleagues in your prayers and respect everyone's privacy during our time of mourning."
Luna again urged residents who may have information related to the shooting to come forward.
"I want to stress that our investigators are still actively working this case," he said. "There's more information that we probably don't know at this time. Every piece of evidence, everything we have, will be analyzed and I do want to stress to our community that although we are extremely confident that we have the right (person) in custody, I am still asking people to come forward and give us any piece of information that they believe that they have.
"Why? Because the arrest is only one part of this. We have to get this individual prosecuted now to the full extent of the law, and we need the public's continued help and support in doing that."
Anyone who witnessed anything related to the shooting was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800- 222-TIPS (8477).
Clinkunbroomer's body was carried in a procession Wednesday morning from the county Medical Examiner's Office in Lincoln Heights to a funeral home. Details of funeral services have not yet been announced.
The last Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot and killed in the line of duty was Sgt. Steve Owen, 53, a 29-year department veteran who worked out of the Lancaster station and was shot while investigating a reported break- in on Oct. 5, 2016.
Deputy Alejandro Martinez died July 28, several months after he was struck by a wrong-way vehicle while training with dozens of colleagues near the sheriff's STARS Explorer Academy law enforcement training center in Whittier in November 2022. The driver, 22-year-old Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez of Diamond Bar, told reporters that he fell asleep at the wheel.
Deputy Steve Belanger died on Feb. 6, 2018, from a gunshot wound sustained on Dec. 10, 1994, when he was ambushed while conducting a traffic stop in the 18400 block of La Guardia Street in Rowland Heights. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet from Belanger's brain, and he remained under constant medical care and confined to a wheelchair until he died.
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