Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies had a chance to speak in court Wednesday, Nov. 1, about the day a 39-year-old Compton man tried to kill them while they sat in their patrol SUV in September 2020 and the impact the shooting still has on their lives.
Deonte Lee Murray was then sentenced in Compton Superior Court to 166 years to life in state prison for shooting four people over a 12-day period. All of the victims survived their wounds.
Deputies Emmanuel Perez-Perez and Claudia Apolinar said they’re still recovering mentally and physically after Murray shot them at point-blank range at the Compton Metro Station during a days-long spree in which he sought revenge for the killing of his best friend.
Perez-Perez said he’d been angry for a very long time and had so many names he wanted to call Murray, but he refrained. He said he’s reminded of the shooting every time he looks in a mirror and sees a scar on his forehead.
Apolinar called Murray a coward and a piece of garbage.
“I get satisfaction knowing that he failed and we prevailed,” she said, though her life would never be the same. “A coward woke up that day with the intention of killing deputies” not thinking about the fact that they are more than their uniform and badge, she added.
“Evil found us that day, but God had other plans for Emmanuel and me,” she said.
Murray in September was convicted by a jury of three counts of attempted murder, four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and carjacking after a trial that was delayed multiple times due to illnesses and a power outage at the Compton Courthouse.
Jurors deliberated for about a week before finding Murray guilty. Attorneys had to give their closing arguments in Long Beach Superior Court to avoid further delay due to a blown transformer at the Compton Courthouse in September.
Before sentencing Wednesday, Murray’s attorney, Kate Hardie argued for mitigating factors that included being a child of drug addicts, leading to a childhood of being passed around from family member to family member. He had been shot multiple times and Hardie claimed he had never been shown respect.
“We as a society failed him,” Hardie said.
Judge Connie R. Quinones characterized Murray’s background, which Hardie provided in court documents, as “heartbreaking,” noting the hardship and dysfunction in Murray’s life, but noted that the crime spree began when Murray used a rifle to shoot one of his friends.
“The callousness and heinousness by you in the neighborhood where you grew up…is inexcusable,” she said.
Both attorneys declined comment after the hearing.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna was in attendance at the sentencing to show his support for the deputies, each of whom he hugged after Murray was escorted out of the courtroom.
The chain of events started Sept. 1, 2020, when Murray pulled a rifle on a man, shot him in the leg and then took off in his black Mercedes Benz sedan.
On Sept. 10, 2020, while Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant, they shot and killed Samuel Herrera Jr., who was Murray’s best friend.
Prosecutor Stephen Lonseth said Murray blamed the sheriff’s department for Herrera’s death and wanted revenge. Later that same day, Murray drove the Mercedes Benz to the Compton Courthouse and shot a man seated in the driver’s seat of an SUV that Murray thought was an unmarked police vehicle.
The man was not a member of law enforcement, but was at the courthouse to file paperwork for a job, Lonseth said. He survived his wounds.
Two days later, Murray saw a sheriff’s SUV sitting at the Compton Metro Station. Murray backed into a parking stall north of the station, got out and walked up to the SUV from behind, suddenly turning toward the open passenger window and firing shots point blank at Apolinar and Perez-Perez as they sat in the vehicle.
Murray ran back to the car and drove off. The shooting was captured on the station’s surveillance cameras.
Hardie said during closing arguments that multiple witnesses said Murray hadn’t slept, was using methamphetamine, drinking Hennessy and living out of his car in the days after Herrera’s death.
Quinones said Murray “creeped up” on the deputies and shot straight at them.
“They didn’t deserve that and they didn’t cause (Herrera’s death),” Quinones said. “You don’t deal with it that way.”
Apolinar and Perez-Perez both testified to blacking out momentarily during the shooting, then coming to and realizing they’d been shot. Apolinar suffered two broken forearms, a shattered jaw and her tongue was nearly severed, she testified during trial.
Perez-Perez suffered gunshot wounds to his right arm and a graze wound to the forehead, he testified.
Murray testified in his own defense and said he won the Mercedes Benz in a dice game and that he shot the first victim in the leg because he had been spreading rumors about Murray.
During closing arguments, Hardie said Murray made an “impulsive, rash decision fueled by grief, drugs, alcohol and heartbreak,” and not that of someone in their right mental state.
Three days after shooting the deputies, Murray led authorities on a short pursuit that led to a nine-hour standoff in Lynwood. During the chase, Murray tossed a handgun, which was collected by investigators and was found to be the weapon used against the two deputies after ballistics testing.
Murray had ditched the Mercedes Benz in Lynwood shortly after shooting the deputies and the car was recovered the same day as his arrest.
Outside the courthouse, following the hearing, Luna said he was satisfied with the sentence and said he hoped it would send a message to “anyone who wants to shoot anybody, especially someone in uniform.
“I have two deputies who are heroes that will be impacted not only physically, but mentally, for the rest of their lives,” he added. “They were shaken up today, because this brought back that horrific night for them.”
During trial, Apolinar testified she had returned to work, but Perez-Perez was still recovering from his injuries.
