Man charged in shooting of two deputies
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors charged a 36-year-old man Wednesday with a brazen ambush of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies earlier this month, an apparently unprovoked shooting as they sat in a squad car outside a rail station.
The deputies suffered head wounds in the Sept. 12 attack and have since been released from the hospital. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said their recoveries will be a long process and include further reconstructive surgeries.
The suspect, Deonte Lee Murray, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges Wednesday during his arraignment. He faces life in state prison if he is convicted.
Murray’s attorney, Jack Keenan, declined to comment and said he has not yet seen prosecutors’ evidence. Murray is being held in jail on $6.15 million bail and is due back in court in November.
The sheriff’s department arrested Murray two weeks ago in connection with a separate carjacking. But officials at the time said it was not related to the ambush case.
Murray has a criminal history including convictions for sales and possession of narcotics, firearm possession, receiving stolen property, burglary and terrorist threats, authorities said. Wednesday’s criminal complaint includes allegations that he associates with gangs.
Investigators on Wednesday did not provide a specific motive for the attack, “other than the fact that he obviously hates policemen and he wants them dead,” said Capt. Kent Wegener, the head of the sheriff’s homicide bureau.
In the shooting — which the sheriff said depicted “the worst of humanity” — surveillance video shows a person walking toward the patrol car, which was parked at a Metro rail station in the city of Compton, and firing a handgun through the passenger-side window.
The deputies — a 31-year-old woman and 24-year-old man who had graduated together from the sheriff’s academy 14 months ago — radioed for help despite their wounds.
The suspect fled in a black Mercedes Benz sedan. Investigators discovered that type of vehicle had been stolen Sept. 1 in a carjacking where the driver was shot. Photographs of the carjacking suspect seemed to match images from the ambush, Wegener said, strengthening a connection between the two cases.
On Sept. 15, an investigator spotted the suspect driving another vehicle and tried to stop him. The suspect threw a gun out of the car during a pursuit before abandoning the vehicle in the city of Lynwood. The suspect ran off and was ultimately captured after a nearly nine-hour standoff with police. The black Mercedes was found nearby.
That day, Villanueva and other sheriff’s officials told reporters the carjacking suspect was not related to the ambush case. On Wednesday he defended his actions that misled the public, saying police didn’t at the time have the hard evidence needed before telling citizens the suspect was linked to such a significant crime.
“We’re not going to tell you everything we suspect,” the sheriff said, adding that the investigation of the ambush could have been harmed had the name been made public sooner.