By James Queally
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — A jury determined Wednesday that an Antelope Valley man was sane when he shot an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy in the back of the head in 2023, rejecting arguments that a severe mental illness contributed to the slaying.
Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar, 32, was convicted last week of the September 2023 murder of Ryan Clinkunbroomer. Prosecutors said Salazar shot the deputy from behind with a .22-caliber revolver in broad daylight outside the Palmdale sheriff’s station.
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The fact that Salazar killed Clinkunbroomer was not in dispute, but his defense attorney and family said he was deeply disturbed at the time, hearing voices that told him to kill himself. While in jail, however, Salazar was caught on tape admitting he’d wanted to kill a police officer for years and often followed cops around while listening to music to prepare himself to attack, prosecutors alleged.
Salazar, who was convicted of murder with special circumstances in Clinkunbroomer’s killing last week, must now be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole under California law.
Clinkunbroomer was a third-generation sheriff’s deputy described by colleagues as smart and dependable. The aspiring detective proposed to his girlfriend months before the attack. He was just 30 years old.
“He was a hero, at least to all of us standing up here. He was a model son. He was a big brother, and absolutely an amazing co-worker,” Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon, describing Clinkunbroomer as the “exact” type of person he wanted wearing the department’s uniform.
The brazen, seemingly random shooting shocked local law enforcement circles. Salazar was identified after a motorist contacted police to report another driver who had aggressively confronted him minutes before Clinkunbroomer’s death, according to evidence presented at a prior hearing.
Two days after the shooting, deputies arrested Salazar at his Palmdale home and recovered a .22-caliber revolver.
Salazar’s attorney, George Rosenstock , argued in court filings that his client could not distinguish right from wrong or understand the nature of his actions at the time of the attack. Salazar’s mother previously told The Times her son had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and hospitalized for his mental health struggles in the years before the slaying.
Under California law, Salazar should not have been able to buy a handgun, but the weapon he used to kill Clinkunbroomer was legally purchased.
Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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