Pomona cop’s accused killer due in court
A man suspected of shooting two Pomona police officers, one fatally, is scheduled to appear in a Pomona courthouse Tuesday morning, records show.
Isaias De Jesus Valencia was arrested after a 15-hour standoff that began with a pursuit late Friday.
Police received a call about a reckless driver, and when the suspect refused to stop, he led police on a chase that ended when he crashed into a parked car. The man then ran into an apartment building, where he fired at officers from behind a door of a unit, police said.
He was booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, and is being held without bail, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department jail records.
Before the shooting, Valencia had a history of arrests in the Pomona area, according to public records.
Nearly three years ago, he was sent to state prison for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition and discharging a gun in a school zone, as well as destruction of jail property, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Vicky Waters. He was out on probation about a year later.
Valencia had suffered from depression and drug addiction, said Amos Young, an acquaintance who knew him through the Pomona church Kingdom of God Revelation Ministries.
Young also said Valencia had served in the military. Those who knew him had tried to offer him help without success, he said.
“He’d say, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ ” Young said. “No one could force him to go to Tri-City [Mental Health]. No one could force him to contact a rehab.”
On Sunday afternoon, detectives were still examining the crime scene on Palomares Street, where residents had been evacuated.
Later Sunday evening, hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil for the fallen officer outside the Pomona police headquarters. Police officers wore black mourning bands with the number “16,” Officer Greggory Casillas’ badge number, over their badges.
Casillas, a 30-year-old father who had been on the job for six months, was on his last day of field training when he was killed.
A second officer who was shot in the face trying to save him was released from a hospital and is recovering from his wounds.