Suspect charged in Compton shooting ambush of two deputies

The shooting was captured on surveillance video, and left the two officers with head wounds

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey have announced morning against a suspect accused of shooting two county sheriff’s deputies in a parked patrol car in Compton earlier this month, 

The Los Angeles Times reports that Deonte Lee Murray, 36, was taken into custody on September 15, and is facing two premeditated attempted murder charges for the shooting, which harmed two deputies, a 31-year-old woman and 24-year-old man, who have not been identified by the LA County Sheriff’s Department. They have both since been released from the hospital following surgery.

The shooting was captured on surveillance video. At the time of the incident, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Mr Murray was also suspected in an armed carjacking, and he was charged with felony carjacking, robbery, and assault, and brought in after a lengthy chase on Sept. 15.

Mr Murray was apprehended following a high-speed car chase, according to NBC Los Angeles. After he crashed in the Lynnwood area, authorities, including a SWAT team, evacuated residents as they began searching the area. Eventually, a K9 unit helped locate Murray hiding in a trash can. At the time, Sheriff Villanueva told news media he had not confirmed a link between Murray and the Compton shooting. 

Forensic evidence later linked Mr Murray to the shooting of the deputies, CBS Los Angeles reports. During the car chase when he was apprehended, Mr Murray threw a ghost gun that was later linked through ballistic and forensic evidence to the Compton shooting, sheriff’s captain Kent Wegener also told reporters.

Other key pieces of evidence included that Mr Murray  fled the scene of the Compton shooting in a black Mercedes, the same vehicle he was accused of violently carjacking on September 1.

Amid heightened tensions around policing across the country, the story quickly became national news. President Trump called the suspect an “animal that must be hit hard" and called for the death penalty as punishment. The FBI also stepped in to assist with the investigation.

Josie Huang, a reporter for LAist and NPR affiliate KPCC in Los Angeles, was arrested on Sept. 12 and charged with obstruction of justice while filming the arrest of members of a small group of protestors outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated. Local media captured several deputies pinning her to the ground.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement on social media that Ms Huang "did not identify herself as press and later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person" though she was wearing press credentials around her neck. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced last week it will not prosecute the charges.

Mr Murray could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if fully convicted on his charges.