appears to have been purchased legally, without raising any red flags regarding the suspected gunman's mental health, two law enforcement officials briefed on the probe told ABC News.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the suspect, Kevin Salazar, had an officially documented history of psychiatric problems and whether that would have or should have triggered red flags that might have stopped him from buying a gun. Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, 30, was on duty, in uniform and in his patrol car when he was shot while stopped at a red light outside the Palmdale Sheriff's Station Saturday night. The motive remains unclear.Salazar's mother told ABC News that she had reported concerns over her son's mental health to law enforcement, but it remains unclear whether any such reports would have risen to a level that should have blocked her son from being able to legally purchase a gun.
Clinkunbroomer, an eight-year veteran of the sheriff's office, "was a dedicated, hard-working deputy sheriff," Clinkunbroomer's family said in a statement read on Monday by the sheriff. "Ryan was recently engaged to the love of his life," his family said, and he made "the ultimate sacrifice."