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Deputy shot and killed near Palmdale Station, manhunt underway for suspect

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[Left] Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer [Center] During an overnight procession, law enforcement officers escorted Clinkunbroomer’s body to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office. [Right] Deputies search for evidence at the shooting scene. [BRYAN HALL]
PALMDALE – Officials are expressing remorse and outrage, following the death of a third-generation Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy, who was shot on Saturday, Sept. 16, while in his patrol car in front of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station  — while a manhunt is underway for the suspect.

“Words cannot describe my immense sorrow for the tragic loss of a brave deputy’s life tonight,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement after learning 30-year-old Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer had died after being shot earlier in the day.

“(He is a) hero. Palmdale loves the sheriff’s deputies and the deputies take very good care of Palmdale and love our community back. The person that did this is a coward and they will be caught,” Palmdale Mayor Laura Bettencourt said in a statement.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced Clinkunbroomer’s death during a news conference, saying Clinkunbroomer’s father and grandfather had also been deputies and that Clinkunbroomer had become engaged just four days earlier.

“He didn’t deserve this,” Luna said “We’re hurting because we lost somebody. It hurts bad. It sucks, just to put it bluntly. Our hearts absolutely go out to his family.” Luna struggled to hold back his emotions while discussing what he described as a targeted ambush killing.

“He was just driving down the street,” Luna explained. “And for no apparent reason — and we’re still looking into the specific reasons — somebody decided to shoot and murder him, I’m assuming at this point, because he was in uniform. That, to me, is sickening. That’s not who this community is and that’s why we stand up here collectively together really asking our community for your assistance as we move forward.”

At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, Clinkunbroomer was “found in medical distress” in front of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station by a Good Samaritan who stopped to render aid.

“Thank god for this Good Samaritan,” Luna said, “somebody (who) chose not to just drive by.”

Clinkunbroomer was transported to Antelope Valley Medical Center in grave condition.

According to media reports, Clinkunbroomer was stopped in a patrol car at a red light when he was shot. He was found in front of the Palmdale Station at Sierra Highway and East Avenue Q with a gunshot wound to the head. Video from the scene showed a vehicle drive up behind the patrol car, then pull alongside momentarily before speeding away. It was unclear whether this was the suspect, the Good Samaritan or someone else.

Shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, the department announced Clinkunbroomer had died.

“I want to let to our community know Deputy Clinkunbroomer left his family tonight to serve our community,” Luna said during his news conference. “He laid everything on the line to serve us. He wore a uniform just like other @LASDHQ deputies wear, driving in a police car, and he was senselessly murdered tonight.”

“From everything I know about Ryan, people absolutely loved and adored him. He wasn’t just one of our Deputy Sheriffs. He was a third-generation deputy. His father and grandfather served with us. Service was running through his veins. He embodied the values of bravery, selflessness and was committed to justice. Our deputy was a devoted family member and a cherished community member. He was cowardly shot while working tirelessly to serve our community this evening,” Luna said.

Luna said Clinkunbroomer was an eight-year veteran of the department and had been with the Palmdale station since July 2018. He served as a field training officer, which Luna said is a role reserved for only “the best of the best.”

Last week, Clinkunbroomer’s mother, Kim Etzel Clinkunbroomer, posted several photos of her son and his fiancé on Instagram with the message: “We are so excited to add to our family. Congrats to our son Ryan and his fiancé Brittany.”

During an overnight procession, law enforcement officers escorted Clinkunbroomer’s body to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office.

Clinkunbroomer is believed to be the first Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy to die in the line of duty since Oct. 5, 2016, when 29-year department veteran Sgt. Steve Owen, 53, of the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station was shot and killed while investigating a reported break-in.

Luna said homicide detectives were studying the videos news networks have been broadcasting that appears to show a suspect vehicle drive up behind Clinkunbroomer’s patrol car, then pull alongside momentarily before speeding away. But he also implored anyone who has video or information to provide it to the department.

“We are utilizing every resource available to apprehend the suspect responsible for this heinous crime,” Luna said.

Anybody who witnessed anything related to the shooting, especially in the area of Sierra Highway around 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

[BRYAN HALL]
[BRYAN HALL]
[BRYAN HALL]
 

68 comments for "Deputy shot and killed near Palmdale Station, manhunt underway for suspect"

  1. Anybody here recall or know of the ambush killing of 4 CHP officers at J’s restaurant at the tail end of the 60s, that’s right 4. The two suspects were later killed in the Lake Hughes area. These crimes happen anywhere and when a deranged individual or individuals like the trooper ambush in Texas a couple of years ago do not care where or who is around. The only thing that the same is innocent men serving society are murdered. Just each offender has a twist. But the damage to the loved ones and witnesses is unforgivable. RIP to those that serve.

  2. Heard a rumor today that seems fairly reliable that facts are finally catching up for the half cocked crowd. Murder weapon that can be tied to the suspect. Congrats Templer, even a blind squirrel like you bumps a nut now and again.

    • You heard a rumor? Wtf does that mean? You’re 2days behind the facts. Is your street weed dealer your news source. “fairly reliable” wow you are a certified nut bag.

      • Heard (v): to have received information by auditory means
        Rumor(n): information from non-official sources

        I knew the marines had lower educational requirements than other branches, but those are pretty simple words…

          • What really awesome here is how everyone can read your prior comments and how long you pushed some conspiracy narrative. Then to cap it off with a delusional “I have a secret news source”

  3. To think that Tim Scott here thinks that a criminal wouldn’t chose this type of location. This was just attempted a little over a month age in a police station parking lot in san Gabriel valley. These type of shooters don’t care. Mentally ill don’t care. And you call people clowns here. You’re comments are at the bottom of the pond.

    • To think that in a department known to be riddled with gangs you refuse to even consider anything other than your preconceived notion that “someone wanted to kill a random cop.” Your answer to every challenge is “okay, the attacker was apparently even stupider and crazier than I thought before.” You just absolutely refuse to consider that the conclusion you leapt to might be wrong. At least you are consistent and predictable.

      • Actually you’re the one that’s riddled with some kind of brain infection, law enforcement officers are targeted all the time. Criminals and deranged shooters are not known to be rational.

  4. To the family of this deputy my condolences. To the 3-4 suspects involved in this act this is the Antelope Valley not a big place you’re on a very short marker. I’m convinced you have a lot of man crack viewing for the rest of your lives which will start within a week. The Sheriff will be collecting videos for miles. Prediction none of these suspects will go down shooting. They might get shot though.

  5. May Ryan Clinkunboomer R.I.P. This is every Officer’s family ”nightmare”. This young man was only 30 yrs old. Police Officers are targeted everyday it appears. I pray they find the killer soon & pays for his crime. I was married to an officer, so I’m fully aware of the dangers of the job. Prayer’s for his family, fiance, friends & his LASD family during this very difficult time..

  6. I’m calling this out right now…

    There’s something very “weird” about this whole thing.

    Some things to consider:

    1. No civilian is gonna run up on a cop and do this right in front of the station without knowing where the line of sight for the cameras is.

    2. The fact that the perpetrator aimed and hit him with that precision is interesting. That wasn’t sloppy. It was targeted. This opens so many other questions too, obviously.

    • Nothing too weird about it. That traffic light and the lines painted on the street. Have been there for decades. Wherever any cameras are is where they are, a car just simply pulls up fires a weapon from as little as 8ft away, rolling down a window maybe tinted from the rear of a suspect car especially if that patrol car was in the right lane doesn’t take a lot of skill just a dark soul.

    • Actually just a couple of months ago in the San Gabriel valley a civilian did just that ran into a parking lot of a police station and tried to execute a parked deputy. But in this case it was car to car. Thinking that there aren’t criminals capable of this is naive I’ve got a bullet riddled Pontiac from an incident just 4 blocks away from this murder.

      • While there are criminals who could, I think there are very very few who would. If someone just wanted to ‘kill a random cop’ I think there are a thousand better places to do it than the intersection with the station on the corner. I also think that if someone wants to shoot a random cop the “I will sneak up on him by blatantly violating the vehicle code to attract his attention” plan is so bad that no one would try it. That points to someone he knew being in the car. Someone who could cross into the oncoming lanes and pull up beside him to say something without him thinking twice. So who do we know that routinely ignores the vehicle code right in front of a cop without anyone raising an eyebrow?

        • Wtf are you talking about he just quietly pulled up at a red light and drove away. The attempted officer assault in the parking lot of a police station in the San Gabriel valley was no different, if a staffer grabbing a lunch didn’t see that guy coming that officer would be mortally injured as well, SAF mental illness doesn’t care about traffic laws or crowds. Just ask the guy in Venture sitting down with his daughter in a crowded restaurant getting his throat slashed. Traffic etiquette. And you call people clowns here.

        • The mentality I’ll don’t care about vehicle etiquette, shooters don’t care about crowds, murderers don’t care about traffic laws. This same type of MO just happened in LA county recently.

          • It isn’t a question of ‘caring about traffic laws.’ Let’s play this a different way…if YOU were sitting in the left turn lane and a car that was pulled up behind you crossed into the opposing lanes to pull up beside you, would YOU, tough guy that you are, be sitting on your thumb while they did it?

            I’m willing to assume that NO, you wouldn’t. You would be checking for a rolled down window, tensing to flop to your right, ready to hit the gas. And cops are trained observers, not just regular tough guys like you.

            So why did this shooter assume this cop was just gonna sit there as they pulled out and around him? There are plenty of ways to pull up alongside a cop that don’t attract that kind of attention. Wait for one to be pulled up in the right lane. Pull up on one that has just written a ticket and hasn’t gotten into their car. Whatever.

            If you treat this like any other homicide instead of assuming it was a random “hey I wanna shoot a cop, any cop” action, then you ask “who could pull up beside him like that without putting him on guard?” Think about that. Then think about why the cops seem so eager to think about it as just a random act against a random cop.

          • What you miss here in all babbling nonsense is the deputy was sitting the right lane. He just didn’t conceive a car pulling up to his left a threat. Maybe even had his attention on a screen. What don’t YOU get. It’s not some big inter conspiracy. It’s happened before. Street weed bad.

        • All of your comments are as if you know nothing about the events that actually happened. This is some inter department conspiracy. Your brain is truly fried timmy.

    • Nothing weird or strange at all, just a blatant act of violence towards a black and white that just happened to pull out of the station and happen to hit the red at that intersection. They just decided to shoot, if they were lying in wait then they were parked on Sierra Hwy, the only open driveway is too far away at the animal shelter. This was just a hideous opportunity perpetrated by a passenger in the backseat of that Toyota. In a reply that didn’t get published I stated how easy it would be to shoot someone from the drivers side of the patrol car, I hadn’t seen the video yet but it was just that,easy rear window comes down a 45 degree shot from 8ft maybe less. Not hard if you’ve forfeited your soul.

  7. The police can’t stop crime alone. It’s time for citizens to do their civic duty and use their legal powers to affect citizens arrests upon witnessing any crime. Despite what the media might want you to believe, citizens have the power to use reasonable force to subdue criminal and place them under arrest (citizens arrest). The penal code is your friend folks, read it. Calif Penal Code Section 837.

    • I respect your comment Mike, But law enforcement doesn’t want people to get involved physically period. Calls or tips of course but it’s the uncertainty of every event there’s always a surprise. I’ve been involved with countless different types of crimes and apprehension 9/10 times there’s hindsight involved. Mid Wilshire was where I cut my teeth sun down to sun rise. Civilians are no match for the endless possibilities of criminal behavior.

        • No I’m not or was, I’m just a regular Joe that isn’t a bystander or victim if you threaten me, steal or victimize me or an innocent I’m not passive. I am a former Marine and have an awesome peripheral and as an apartment manager in the Wilshire district they came every day every night. Things happen here too. Why would I not want to crush some AHs that would in a second break into my daughters car per se at a park and ride. Yeah I like the action and I’m built for it.

          • Keyboard Warrior…Aka, timmy. Take the “L” timmy it’s an iOS with a cracked screen. When you have to use the keyboard comment it’s an automatic loss. Your mom could’ve used a lot more hugs, Poor ladie crying herself to sleep every night thinking of what a loser she conceived behind that garage on the East side.

          • LOL…nope, that wasn’t me. Making fun of you is apparently becoming a widespread activity. As for “taking the loss” I already credited you that your assumption turned out right as the evidence came in, but instead of taking the acknowledgement graciously you went into a spasm of attack posts and look like a jerk.

          • Tim in another social media venue chastised a gentleman who said, “ some Palmdale thug did this” he then went on a tirade of “how do you know it’s a Palmdale thug” and in the end this gentleman apologized for the generalization….

            But guess what, in the end, like always, Tim was wrong…

            Apologize to that gentleman on Nextdoor… but we know you won’t.

          • Re: Keyboard W, must be. Since 1992 up here, one example, two suspects attempting to steal minivan. what was then Albertsons parking lot 47th and S, over 50 people watched as I gave a long and pummeling education to an armed suspect. Never once hitting him in the head or face, 2011 the extermination of a fencing operation on Pearblossom Hwy in Littlerock set up by a MS13 cell from Panorama City. Store front name “thrift store for men”. 2021 arriving at a ATM in Littlerock a potential friend of timmys was in the process of ripping that machine apart, he turned looked at me and said “go use another one” he crashed, yes anything can happen. But as soon as a criminal in the act of a crime takes a swing at you especially with a crowbar or brandished weapon or shoots at you he’s put all his cards on the table and the sheriff put on one hell of a show when it’s not a routine call. I have 27 incident reports pinned in my 2000 square ft man cave 4 involved firearms 1 was discharged (Palmdale blvd 7/4/2021) none were invited. So yeah I guess I am.

          • You have to understand BEE, timmy here feels defensive when someone uses the term scumbag. He instantly assumes it’s him. It’s actually alarming that while everyone else new the details of this crime within 24hrs, he held on too some delusional theories and illusions of grandeur. Don’t forget he’s not the saint that he pretends to be in his begging cup of a book, he did in fact pass threatening notes to young female tellers. That was his MO, he would pick the most vulnerable and commit his act. It wasn’t some peaceful act but in his selfish mind he has never mentioned that side of his fictional BEGGING CUP.

    • Now, you’ve said alot of dumb things, but this is the biggest numbskull comment ever.

      You assume citizens will risk their lives for some failure of the LASD to patrol and to prevent? Get in to a confrontation, a fight, a gun battle for…? That is astonishingly lame. Why do we even need cops, then? When you decide to enforce, you better be sure you have the force to en. Even LASD has protocols for when to call for backup…what the hell is going to be a citizen’s backup in a citizen’s arrest? God you are a dumb azz.

      Second, when LASD DOES show up, they will not know which is the perp and which is the citizen. They will shoot both if necessary.

      • Communicating with the Sheriff and acting within the law alleviates 90% of your concerns Doris, you don’t always have to make eye contact, only engage if it’s absolutely necessary. But understand if a criminal is committing a crime such as burglary you don’t have to prove he had a weapon. All you have to state is you felt your life was in jeopardy. True or untrue do what you have to do to protect yourself. Sometimes they’ll attack you even if you’re just taking out the trash by mistake because they’re criminals.

        • Said it dumbass.
          Call u before you chickened out. I told u the place you were supposed to set the time. What happened.

        • Not true anytime someone exposes you. You resort to fake profiles. It’s a pattern. Read over your prior comments. “If he was a good deputy” and such. Can’t change what you already put down. DAF

        • Fake profiles? Utter made up BS on your part. Just cuz you made one assumption and turned up right don’t think that you are on a roll.

          • Don’t try to hide that past conversation. You called me a coward but you’re the coward. I don’t care about if I was accurate or not your replies were from the fed cell floor face down, anyone can read that.

          • Wasn’t an assumption at all just processed what happened. Are you the reason there are infant straps on shopping carts now?

    • Just don’t do what those guys did in Long Beach when that guy climbed over an elementary school fence with a hammer a few days ago. But it is an example of citizen frustration with blatant random violence. Especially regarding there children.

  8. With all of the anti-police rhetoric and anti-White racism in the past couple of years, this doesn’t come as a surprise.

    RIP.

    • If the guy was actually a good cop, with all the pressure that has been put on rooting out the deputy gangs it would be no surprise at all if they responded violently.

    • I hear the LASD has enlisted to the help of the FBI to scour local social media and public commentary to identify anti-police actors. If this is true Tim Scott will certainly be on the top of that list. I’m sure he can expect a knock on his door.

      • LOL…you “hear” that, eh Mike? Neen blowing someone at the DA’s office again for an ‘inside scoop’ to make you look important?

          • Careful Mike, little timmy knows more criminals than anyone else. Said it right here. Must be a really smart crowd.

          • You don’t use sarcasm Templer, you just throw in some “insult Tim out of the blue” nonsense every now and then. It detracts from your ability to make a point.

          • Point is clear timmy, your comments are babbling nonsense.
            Suggesting conspiracy theories that have nothing to do with what clearly happened. A deputy was murdered by a deranged individual nothing more.

  10. COULD BE THAT –

    SOMEONE WAS INSANELY JEALOUS AND UPSET THAT THE FINE DEPUTY HAD BECAME ENGAGED JUST FOUR DAYS EARLIER –

    MORE LIKELY THAN A RANDOM COP KILLING –

    THE SLAIN DEPUTY MIGHT EVEN HAVE RECOGNIZED HIS KILLER AS HE OR SHE PULLED UP NEXT TO HIS SUV –

    ***

    IF SO THE COPS ARE PROBABLY HOT ON THE KILLER’S TRAIL –

    ***

  11. RIP Young man. My prayers go out to your family, the department, friends and your new fiancé. Justice will be served.
    This has got to stop Antelope Valley. We can be so much better. We the good citizens need to be the ones running the rif Raf out of here so we can thrive as a valley. Our kids can go to school to learn instead of fear of being bullied. We can walk down the street with our pets without fear of being attacked. Just go out period without fear. Parents, step up and raise your kids to be good people. To love and respect others, pets, their teachers, and people who may be ‘different’ than you and I.
    City council, start doing more to get everyone involved in a good way. 5k, 10k, half and full marathons for the holidays with medals, runs for the little ones, runs for people with pets. COME ON ONE AND ALL…LET’S CHANGE.