Authorities arrest alleged killer of sheriff’s deputy in Palmdale

After an hours-long standoff, a 29-year-old man was arrested Monday for allegedly killing a third-generation sheriff’s deputy who was gunned down near the department’s Palmdale station over the weekend.

Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, 30, was shot around 6 p.m Saturday while sitting in his patrol car near the station at Sierra Highway and East Avenue Q. 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 arrested 29-year-old Kevin Cataneo Salazar at his family’s home following a lengthy standoff. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Special Enforcement Bureau deputies took him into custody following a barricade that ended after the SEB personnel used “chemical agents” at the scene. Luna said “numerous firearms” were recovered following the arrest, and deputies seized a dark-colored Toyota Camry 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 during a news conference late Monday morning.

Luna said tips from the public led investigators to the suspect, and he hailed the professionalism shown by deputies involved in the barricade situation and arrest of a person despite knowing the many may have killed one of their own.

“Those special enforcement deputies took the time to try to deescalate this and take this individual peacefully into custody, when they knew our deputy was not afforded the same opportunity,” Luna said. “He never gave our deputy a chance, but yet our men and women gave this individual a chance to take him into custody peacefully. That’s the difference between professionals and individuals out there who are targeting not only community members but more importantly law enforcement out on the street.”

Luna said a motive for the killing remains a mystery.

“We don’t know yet, but we intend to find out,” Luna said, adding that Clinkunbroomer was “murdered, ambushed by a coward.”

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.”

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she “will not rest” until the deputy’s killer is fully prosecuted.

“We need to send a clear message that this type of cowardly attack is not going to be tolerated, not here in the Antelope Valley, nowhere in L.A. County, quite frankly, nowhere in California, it shouldn’t be anywhere in this nation.

“This was an attack on the law enforcement community. An attack on public safety. An attack on law abiding residents of Los Angeles County who believe in and support law and order.”

There was no immediate word on where Salazar was being held, or on his bail.

The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs announced Monday that those wishing to donate to assist the slain deputy’s family can send funds to the website www.alads.org/donate.

Clinkunbroomer was believed to have been stopped at a red light when he was shot.

On Sunday, Luna said a car that was seen pulling alongside Clinkunbroomer’s patrol vehicle before speeding away in what he called “widely circulated video” was being considered a “vehicle of interest.” He described it as a 2006-12 dark gray Toyota Corolla.

A dark gray Corolla was seen Monday morning being removed from outside the suspect’s home.

Luna noted Saturday night that the slain deputy’s father and grandfather had also been deputies, and that Clinkunbroomer had gotten engaged just four days before his death.

“He didn’t deserve this,” Luna said “This is so unfair. We’re hurting because we lost somebody. It hurts bad. It sucks, just to put it bluntly. Our hearts absolutely go out to his family.”

Luna struggled to hold back his emotions while discussing what he described as a targeted ambush killing.

“He was just driving down the street,” Luna explained. “And for no apparent reason — and we’re still looking into the specific reasons — somebody decided to shoot and murder him, I’m assuming at this point, because he was in uniform. That, to me, is sickening. That’s not who this community is and that’s why we stand up here collectively together really asking our community for your assistance as we move forward.”

Anyone who witnessed anything related to the shooting, especially in the area of Sierra Highway at around 6 p.m. Saturday, was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

In response to the killing, multiple agencies announced on Sunday they were offering rewards for information leading to the killer. LA County and the city of Palmdale each offered $100,000, while ALADS put up another $50,000 in reward money.

Hundreds of people attended a vigil in memory of the fallen deputy Sunday night.

Luna said Clinkunbroomer was an eight-year veteran of the department and had been with the Palmdale station since July 2018. He served as a field training officer, which Luna said is a role reserved for only “the best of the best.”

Last week, Clinkunbroomer’s mother Kim Etzel Clinkunbroomer posted several photos of her son and his fiancé on Instagram with the message: “We are so excited to add to our family. Congrats to our son Ryan and his fiancé Brittany.”

During an overnight procession, law enforcement officers escorted Clinkunbroomer’s body to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

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.