Los Angeles County officials have announced a combined $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects involved in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy Saturday evening.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced Sunday she’s seeking Board approval for a $100,000 reward. The City of Palmdale, where the deputy was killed, is matching the Board’s donation, and the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALASA) is adding another $50,000.
Barger called Saturday’s killing of deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer an “unprovoked attack on an honorable public servant.”
“Whoever committed this cowardly act will be caught. The person or persons responsible will be held accountable,” she said.
Deputy shot, killed on the job identified as Ryan Clinkunbroomer. (LASD)
Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said detectives are seeking a “vehicle of interest,” described as a 2006-2012 Toyota Corolla, dark gray in color.
Luna said sheriff’s deputies are working “around the clock” to find those responsible. It was not clear whether one or multiple suspects was involved.
“I’m going to continuously refer to them as cowards because that’s what they are. Cowards,” Luna said during a Sunday afternoon press conference. “To attack a deputy sheriff in uniform in a black and white, who’s just sitting there at a red light, about to go out and serve our community. That is absolutely 100% unacceptable.”
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Deputy Clinkunbroomer, 30, was an eight-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. At approximately 6 p.m. PST, Clinkunbroomer was shot in an ambush just outside the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station in Palmdale, California.
Clinkunbroomer was unconscious in the vehicle when he was found near the intersection of Sierray Highway and Avenue Q by a person Luna identified as a “good Samaritan” who alerted personnel at the Palmdale station of the sheriff’s department.
“Despite the medical staff’s best efforts to save our deputy’s life, regrettably he succumbed to his injuries,” Luna said.
Sheriff’s deputies circulated a video Saturday night, showing Clinkunbroomer’s patrol car at the time of the murder.
The patrol vehicle Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer was in when he was shot in the head and killed in front of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station. (FOX 11 Los Angeles SkyFOX)
Luna said he believed the shooting was a “targeted attack.” But the motive, and whether the deputy or the department in general was the target, was not yet known.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the killing “horrific, unconscionable, and shocking.” He ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff in honor of Clinkunbroomer.
The sheriff said his department was working closely with representatives from the city of Palmdale, about 61 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
“Let me be crystal clear. This was an act of murder,” Mayor Laura Bettencourt said at the news conference. “This individual or individuals are spineless criminals, and our community will join together to bring them to justice.”
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Republican state Sen. Scott Wilk, who represents Palmdale, called Clinkunbroomer’s “senseless” murder “maddening and heartbreaking.”
A vigil for Clinkunbroomer was scheduled for Sunday evening outside the Palmdale sheriff’s station.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Bill Melugin, Landon Mion and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
