Associated Press
EL PASO, Texas — A fugitive former Los Angeles police officer charged with killing a man during an off-duty fight has appeared in a Texas courtroom after his arrest in northern Mexico, authorities said.
Henry Solis, 27, went before a local magistrate in El Paso for formal processing and was held in a city jail, police spokesman Darrel Petry said early Wednesday.
Shortly after his arrest Tuesday in Ciudad Juarez, Solis was deported to Texas, where he will be detained for now, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles. The bureau did not give further information on the next legal steps for Solis, but Eimiller said more would be revealed Wednesday.
Solis was captured by security forces just across the border from El Paso, the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office said. The arrest was made thanks to an exchange of information with U.S. authorities and intelligence work, it said.
Solis, who was a rookie LAPD officer, is wanted in the shooting death of Salome Rodriguez, 23, outside a nightclub in Pomona, California, on March 13. Investigators said the two had gotten into a dispute in the club.
Rodriguez’s family and friends held a prayer vigil Tuesday night after hearing Solis was in custody.
“We’re happy. We’re happy that he was caught,” his mother, Lidia Rodriguez, said through tears.
Solis’ father, Victor, has been arrested and charged in a federal court in El Paso with making false statements to FBI agents to help his son escape to Mexico.
On the day of the killing, Henry Solis called his father’s home and the elder Solis left in a hurry a short time later, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent.
Victor Solis said in an FBI interview that his son claimed to have five days of vacation and wanted to go to El Paso.
The elder Solis said he drove his son to El Paso, where he dropped him at a bus station early March 14 and didn’t see him again.
Victor Solis also claimed he later crossed the border into Mexico alone, but surveillance video captured him crossing with his son, according to the affidavit.
A $25,000 reward had been offered for information leading to Henry Solis’ arrest.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press