A 36-year-old man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after he shot two deputies on September 12.
Deonte Lee Murray reportedly walked up to a patrol car and shot the two Compton police officers sitting inside the vehicle parked outside the Metro Blue Line station at Willowbrook and Oak Street.
Officer Claudia Apolinar, 31, and her male partner, 24, sustained multiple injuries and were rushed to a hospital.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey and LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva identified Murray as the suspected shooter.
Murray has been in police custody since September 15 over a carjacking report on September 1 where a man was shot in the leg.
Authorities confirmed the two incidents were related as the car the shooter fled from the ambush in is also reportedly the same black vehicle stolen in the carjacking case.
Villanueva announced Murray’s arrest and described his actions as the ‘worst of humanity.’
He said: “We saw the worst of humanity – a cowardly act where a suspect ambushed and shot and attempted to kill two of our deputies.
“This cowardly ambush was followed by bystanders celebrating and cheering that the deputies had been shot, and that followed at the hospital – the sanctity, the quiet sanctity of the hospital – with protesters cheering and chanting for the deputies to die.”
He added: “These acts and that day, I will not forget it, and it represents the worst in humanity and it shocked the whole nation. And that evening, I said we will find this man. And I can report today, we have found our suspect.”
If convicted, Murray faces a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
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