Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar was convicted of first-degree murder after fatally shooting Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer near the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A 32-year-old man convicted of ambushing and killing Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer in Palmdale was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, closing the criminal case more than three years after the deputy was fatally shot.
Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar was convicted Aug. 24 of first-degree murder in the Sept. 16, 2023, killing. Jurors also found true special circumstances that included the murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle. A separate phase of the trial ended Sept. 2 when the same jury found Salazar was legally sane at the time of the killing, rejecting his insanity defense and clearing the way for a state prison sentence.
Clinkunbroomer, 30, was on duty and driving a marked patrol vehicle when Salazar followed him as he left the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Palmdale Station, according to prosecutors. Less than a block from the station, Salazar attacked the deputy as he sat in his vehicle near a traffic signal. Clinkunbroomer was taken to a hospital, where he died that night. Salazar was arrested two days later following an intensive search.
The case centered not on whether Salazar killed the deputy, but in part on his mental condition when he committed the crime. Salazar had entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense presented evidence of serious mental illness and argued that his condition prevented him from understanding the nature or wrongfulness of his actions. Prosecutors challenged that argument and maintained that mental illness alone did not satisfy California’s legal standard for insanity.
Jurors ultimately rejected the insanity defense after hearing evidence during a separate sanity phase. Prosecutors pointed to statements Salazar made while in custody as evidence that he understood his actions. The jury’s finding meant Salazar would be sentenced to state prison rather than committed to a state hospital under an insanity verdict.
Clinkunbroomer’s relatives addressed the court at Thursday’s sentencing and described the lasting impact of his death. His mother, Kim Clinkunbroomer, told the court that her son’s life and death mattered and said the family would continue carrying his memory. The deputy had become engaged four days before he was killed.
Clinkunbroomer had served with the Sheriff’s Department for eight years and came from a family with generations of service in the agency. Sheriff Robert Luna previously described him as a model son and co-worker and said the department would continue to honor his service. The killing, which happened near the Palmdale station in broad daylight, drew widespread attention throughout the Antelope Valley and the law enforcement community.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said jurors deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours before returning the murder verdict in August. In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, the panel found that Salazar personally used a .22-caliber revolver and found true the special-circumstance allegations involving a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle.
The sentencing resolves the principal criminal proceedings stemming from Clinkunbroomer’s killing. With the jury’s murder and sanity verdicts followed by Thursday’s sentence, Salazar is set to spend the rest of his life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 2, 2026.