Ex-LAPD officer returned to California
Rookie charged with fatally shooting a man in Pomona in March is extradited from Texas; father is found guilty of lying to the FBI.
An ex-Los Angeles police officer accused of shooting a man outside a Pomona bar has been brought back to California from Texas to face a murder charge, officials said.
Henry Solis, 27, was booked into the Pomona city jail Thursday afternoon after the extradition went “without any issues,” Pomona Deputy Police Chief Michael Olivieri wrote on Twitter. Solis is being held in lieu of $2-million bail.
Lt. Hector Rodriguez said Solis would be turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department on Friday morning. Solis could be arraigned that day, Rodriguez said.
Solis’ return came on the same day that a jury in Texas found his father, Victor Manuel Solis, guilty of making false statements to the FBI to prevent authorities from finding his son.
Victor Solis will be sentenced in August.
Henry Solis was apprehended May 26 in Mexico, ending a weeks-long search that began after the fatal shooting of Salome Rodriguez Jr., 23. Authorities allege that Solis chased Rodriguez and shot him after a fight early on March 13.
Solis has been charged with murder and assault with a firearm in connection with Rodriguez’s death, according to a felony complaint that Los Angeles County prosecutors filed for his extradition from Texas.
Solis was deported to Texas after Mexican authorities arrested him in Juarez, a city in Chihuahua state just across the Rio Grande from El Paso.
An FBI agent working the case said Solis was lying low in the border city — he grew a beard, stayed indoors and avoided using cell- phones or social media. His aunts, uncles and cousins helped move him from house to house, the agent said.
Authorities said they focused their search on parts of Mexico where Solis had relatives, but have not revealed what specific infor- mation led them to him. Chihuahua officials said Solis told authorities he knew his capture was coming “sooner or later.”
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck fired Solis after he was named a suspect in the shooting. Solis, a former Marine, had spent only nine months with the LAPD before investigators allege he shot Rodriguez, a truck driver, multiple times. Solis was off duty at the time.
The rookie officer didn’t show up for work the next day, LAPD officials said. That night, Pomona police publicly identified him as a person of interest in the killing, circulating a f lier with his photo and a description of his car.
Authorities allege that Solis ditched his Volkswagen Jetta not far from the scene and called his father for help. According to court records, Victor Solis told investigators that he drove with his son 800 miles to El Paso, where he dropped the younger Solis off at a bus stop.
But authorities said surveillance video showed Victor Solis walking with his son across the border into Mexico.