Jaclyn Cosgrove
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — An ex-LAPD officer who fled to Mexico for two months after shooting and killing a man in downtown Pomona was found guilty Wednesday of murder.
A jury deliberated for more than two days before finding Henry Solis, 32, guilty of one count of second-degree murder for the 2015 killing of Salome Rodriguez Jr., according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Solis, a former Marine who served in Iraq, had spent nine months with the LAPD before he was involved in a dispute with Rodriguez at a Pomona bar. Solis then chased Rodriguez, a 23-year-old truck driver, and shot him multiple times.
Solis was the target of an international manhunt after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. He fled to Mexico and was arrested two months later.
Solis’ attorney, Bradley Brunon, told reporters Wednesday that he was disappointed by the outcome.
“Henry Solis is a good person. He spent years serving the country honorably [and] would have made a terrific peace officer,” Brunon said. “Unfortunately, this event occurred and derailed his plans.... We felt that the evidence didn’t warrant a murder conviction — perhaps manslaughter on a theory of provocation or imperfect self-defense. [The] jury didn’t agree.”
The victim’s mother, Lidia Rodriguez, told told KABC-TV Channel 7 that she was also disappointed, having hoped for a first-degree murder conviction.
“We prayed, and we believed in God and Junior,” she said. “Today I prayed to him and the Virgin Mary, and it was happy news.”
Solis faces 40 years to life in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 11.