Ex-LAPD officer wanted in killing was lying low in Mexico
May 27, 2015, 3:36 PM
In this photo provided by Mexico's attorney general's office, shows fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Henry Solis, 27, after he was captured by Mexican security forces in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 26, 2015. Solis was charged with killing a man during an off-duty fight outside a nightclub in Pomona, California on March 13. "Henry Solis will be put at the disposition of Mexico's migration office so that he can be handed over to the appropriate authorities," a statement from the office said. (Mexico's Attorney Generals Office via AP)
(Mexico's Attorney Generals Office via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A fugitive former Los Angeles police officer charged with killing a man during an off-duty fight moved between family members’ homes in Mexico, avoiding cellphones and social media to evade authorities, the FBI said Wednesday.
Henry Solis, 27, was arrested Tuesday in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico and deported to Texas because he was living in violation of Mexican immigration law.
He went before a magistrate in El Paso for formal processing and was held in a city jail, El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said. Solis will remain in custody in Texas as he awaits proceedings for extradition to California.
Solis was sought in the shooting death of Salome Rodriguez, 23, outside a nightclub in Pomona, California, on March 13. Investigators said Solis was a probationary LAPD officer at the time and was off-duty when he got into a dispute with Rodriguez in the club.
Solis fled for Mexico after the shooting with the help of his father, authorities said. He was fired by Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck and urged to surrender.
To avoid detection in Mexico, Solis moved between the homes of uncles, cousins and aunts on his dad’s side and stayed indoors, said FBI agent Scott Garriola, who heads the agency’s Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles.
“As we say in the trade, he was laying pretty low,” Garriola said. “I mean, you don’t go out frequently, you don’t communicate.”
Gumshoe detective work by the FBI and Mexican investigators helped unearth information over the weekend that indicated Solis was residing in the Colonia El Mezquital area of Ciudad Juarez with family members. Garriola would not elaborate on the source of the information.
The U.S. government expects to dismiss its warrant charging Solis with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and the Los Angeles County district attorney will handle his extradition and prosecution, the FBI said in Los Angeles.
“We pray that Salome Rodriguez’s family can begin to heal as we move through the prosecution phase of this horrible crime,” Pomona police Chief Paul Capraro said in a statement.
Rodriguez’s family and friends held a prayer vigil Tuesday night after hearing Solis was in custody.
“We’re happy. We’re happy that he was caught,” his mother, Lidia Rodriguez, said through tears.
Solis’ father, Victor Solis, has been arrested and charged in federal court in El Paso with making false statements to FBI agents to help his son escape to Mexico.
Victor Solis said in an FBI interview that his son claimed to have five days of vacation and wanted to go to El Paso. The elder Solis said he drove his son to a bus station in the Texas city and didn’t see him again.
Victor Solis also claimed he later crossed the border into Mexico alone, but surveillance video showed him with his son, according to an FBI affidavit.
Solis is free on bail and awaiting trial in El Paso, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. U.S. District Judge Philip Martinez ordered Solis not to return to California and instead reside with relatives in Texas.
A $25,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest of Henry Solis. The FBI said it was evaluating whether it would pay the reward.
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Associated Press writer Tami Abdollah contributed to this report.
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