Murder arrest warrant issued for LAPD officer in Pomona shooting

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for murder for a rookie LAPD officer in connection with a shooting in Pomona, police announced Monday.

Henry Solis, 27, who has been a probationary officer at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division in the San Fernando Valley since December, is a suspect in the fatal shooting of a man in a Pomona parking lot near an area packed with popular bars and nightclubs.

Police said Solis “knows he is wanted” and should be considered armed and dangerous. He may be driving a brown or tan 1992 Ford pick-up truck with California license plate 4J79703.

Solis didn’t report for work Saturday and was soon after linked to the shooting.

Authorities identified the victim as Salome Rodriguez, 23, of Ontario.

He was shot next to a restaurant at 3rd and Main streets and ran bleeding for about a block before collapsing in a parking lot under a dogwood tree, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times.

Police said Solis and Rodriguez had both gone to Viva Tequila Lounge and Nightclub in downtown Pomona. The pair got into a confrontation after leaving, said Lt. Ronald McDonald.

It was unclear what precipitated the brawl or exactly what happened afterward, McDonald said. Solis’ car was found nearby, at Monterey and Main streets, at 1 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Solis’ family is cooperating with police, and the LAPD has provided assistance to help locate him. It’s unknown whether Solis and Rodriguez knew each other before.

“He was a good officer, as far as we know,” McDonald said of Solis. “Whatever happened, happened.”

A health professional who treated Rodriguez but was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident said he was struck at least five times, twice in the abdomen, twice in the left leg and once in the lower neck.

“The shots were on point,” the source said. The shooter “did a good job.”

Solis had apparently generated no complaints and had “no disciplinary issues” since joining the LAPD, Cmdr. Andrew Smith told The Times.

The LAPD is assisting Pomona officials, Smith said.

On Sunday, friends and relatives of Rodriguez stopped by a curbside memorial in downtown Pomona to remember the young man.

“I never once saw him mad, never saw him fight or get aggressive with anyone,” said Jessica Conde, 25, of Ontario.

She had known Rodriguez for a few years; her husband, Luis, worked with Rodriguez when both made deliveries for Macy’s.

“He was very easy to get along with.”

The memorial was set up near the intersection of 3rd and Gordon streets and included flowers, candles and a picture of Rodriguez in a Dodgers cap and jacket.

Marta Campa, 33, also of Ontario, said Rodriguez, a friend for the last five years, was happy and fun-loving, occasionally working as a DJ at friends’ parties.

“He was a nice guy -- never in trouble or with gang members,” Campa added.

A shooting early Monday in the city was not related to the case, McDonald said. In that incident, a 30-year-old man was killed after being shot in the torso, Pomona police officials said.

The man walked into an acquaintance’s home in the 1200 block of West 3rd Street about 12:30 a.m. and collapsed. The woman called 911, and paramedics who responded declared the man dead at the scene.

Authorities had no suspect information.

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