Funeral services are scheduled today for slain Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, who was fatally shot last month while sitting at a red light in his patrol cruiser near the Palmdale sheriff’s station.
Sheriff Robert Luna will join Clinkunbroomer’s family and friends and hundreds of federal, state and county officials at the 9:30 a.m. service at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 555 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez will preside over the service.
Clinkunbroomer, 30, had just left the sheriff’s station about 6 p.m. on Sept. 16 when a gunman in another vehicle pulled up to his patrol car at a traffic light and shot him in the head, authorities said.
A passerby found the deputy unconscious in his vehicle at the intersection of Avenue Q and Sierra Highway, officials said. Fellow deputies took him to Antelope Valley Medical Center in Lancaster, where he died from his injuries.
Thirty-six hours after the shooting, police arrested 29-year-old Kevin Cataneo Salazar as the only suspect in the shooting. His mother told The Times her son had been hospitalized for mental health issues and twice attempted suicide.
“Our deputies go out and serve this community every day, putting their lives on the line,” Luna told reporters at the time of Cataneo Salazar’s arrest. “Ryan’s family will never see him again.”
Clinkunbroomer was a third-generation sheriff’s deputy who had recently gotten engaged.
“Our son Ryan was a dedicated and hardworking deputy sheriff who enjoyed working here at the Palmdale station,” the deputy’s family said in a statement. “He was proud to work along the side of his partners that he considered brothers and sisters as he sacrificed daily to better the community that he served. Ryan made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.”
The California National Guard will escort Clinkunbroomer’s casket into the cathedral. The funeral procession will then proceed to cemetery grounds for a private service with friends and family. The graveside services will be live streamed on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s YouTube channel.
