The sentence follows a first-degree murder conviction and a separate jury finding that Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar was legally sane.
LOS ANGELES — A man convicted of ambushing Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer near the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, closing the trial phase of a case that began with the deputy’s killing three years ago.
Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar, 32, was sentenced Oct. 1 after a Los Angeles County jury convicted him Aug. 24 of first-degree murder in the Sept. 16, 2023, killing. Jurors also found true special-circumstance allegations that involved the murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle. A separate phase of the case ended Sept. 2 when jurors rejected Salazar’s insanity defense and found he was legally sane at the time of the shooting.
Clinkunbroomer, 30, was on duty and driving a marked patrol SUV when he left the Palmdale station on the evening of the shooting. Authorities said Salazar followed him as the deputy drove away. Less than a block from the station, Clinkunbroomer was attacked while stopped near the intersection of Sierra Highway and Avenue Q. He was taken to Antelope Valley Medical Center, where he died that night.
The jury’s verdict in August resolved the central question in the guilt phase of the trial. Prosecutors said the shooting was deliberate and presented evidence that Salazar knew he was targeting a law enforcement officer. Jurors found that Salazar intentionally killed Clinkunbroomer and found true the prosecution’s allegations that he personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver during the crime.
Salazar had entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. That required jurors to consider his mental condition separately after deciding whether he committed the charged crime. His attorneys presented evidence that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had experienced psychosis, hallucinations and delusions. They argued that his mental illness affected his ability to understand his actions at the time of the killing.
Prosecutors did not dispute that Salazar had experienced serious mental illness, but they argued that mental illness by itself did not meet California’s legal standard for insanity. They pointed to evidence of his conduct before, during and after the shooting, including surveillance evidence and a recorded jail conversation that prosecutors said showed he had thought about killing a police officer before the attack. The jury ultimately found him legally sane, clearing the way for a state prison sentence rather than commitment to a state hospital under the insanity verdict Salazar had sought.
Before sentencing, defense attorney George Rosenstock sought a new trial on the sanity portion of the case. The defense argued in court papers that the judge should independently consider evidence of Salazar’s documented mental illness and the testimony of experts who concluded that he was legally insane. Prosecutors opposed the request, maintaining that the defense had not proven Salazar met the legal test for insanity when he killed Clinkunbroomer.
The investigation began immediately after Clinkunbroomer was found wounded in his patrol vehicle. Authorities reviewed surveillance footage and searched for a vehicle believed to have been involved. Investigators identified Salazar as a suspect after gathering evidence that included information about a Toyota Corolla. He was arrested at his Palmdale home two days after the shooting, and investigators recovered a .22-caliber revolver there, according to evidence presented in the case.
At Thursday’s hearing, members of Clinkunbroomer’s family addressed the court about the effect of his death. His mother, Kim Clinkunbroomer, told the court that her son’s life and death mattered and that the family would carry his memory with them. She said she would continue grieving and loving her son. The statements came more than three years after the family learned that the deputy, who had become engaged four days before his death, had been killed while on duty.
Clinkunbroomer had served with the Sheriff’s Department for eight years and belonged to a family with generations of service in the agency. His great-grandfather joined the department in 1937, and his grandfather and father also served. Sheriff Robert Luna has described Clinkunbroomer as a devoted deputy and said after the sanity verdict that he had been targeted because he was wearing a uniform and driving a marked sheriff’s vehicle.
The life-without-parole sentence completes the principal trial and sentencing proceedings stemming from the 2023 killing. Salazar remains subject to the judgment entered in Los Angeles County Superior Court following the murder conviction and the jury’s rejection of his insanity defense.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 2, 2026.