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Calling fugitive ex-LAPD officer Henry Solis “armed and dangerous,” FBI officials Friday offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in connection with a Pomona nightclub
slaying.
Authorities are centering their search on El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, where Solis has a network of family and friends on both sides of the border, said FBI special agent Scott
Garriola with the FBI/LAPD fugitive task force.
Authorities believe Solis was last in El Paso, but might have crossed into another state or Mexico. Solis has traveled to Mexico before and is a Spanish speaker, Garriola said.
Authorities consider Solis to be armed and dangerous, and Garriola said he may be in possession of “several weapons.”
Solis served in the Marines as an embassy guard in several countries but not in Mexico, Garriola said. He did not say where Solis served.
Authorizes believe Solis once lived in Texas had some schooling there.
Before he vanished, Solis made “incriminating statements” about his role in the March 13 shooting and vowed he would “never be seen again,” an FBI warrant said.
“Now what that means is up for anybody’s guess,” Garriola said. “It could mean he is going to try and hide or going to try and kill himself.
“Being a former law enforcement officer and having to possibly face a prison sentence, one may be suicidal,” he said.
Garriola would not say if Solis fled California with his passport, extra money or credit cards.
“Whether or not he thought about that in those few hours after the murder and before he went on the run, that’s anybody’s guess,” he said. “It’s been a week and we will see how well he
planned his escape.”
Authorities say that soon after Solis shot and killed Salome Rodriguez in downtown Pomona last week, the former rookie cop’s father, Victor Solis, drove him to El Paso.
According to the FBI warrant filed Thursday, Victor Solis said he dropped his son off at a bus station and no longer knows his whereabouts.
Police say Solis and Rodriguez, a 23-year-old Ontario resident, fought outside a nightclub before Solis chased Rodriguez down the block and shot him repeatedly.
Solis ditched his Volkswagen Jetta a few blocks away and called his dad for help before fleeing to Texas, according to the warrant.
The 27-year-old probationary officer with the LAPD failed to show up for work the next day and quickly became a suspect.
Solis has been charged with murder, and authorities say they want him arrested and extradited to California. He was fired Tuesday.