Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were seriously injured in a 2020 ambush shooting near a Compton transit center have reached a tentative settlement in their lawsuit against a company they claim was involved in manufacturing and selling parts of the “ghost gun” used in the attack.
Deputies Claudia Apolinar and Emmanuel Perez-Perez alleged in their lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court that an “unserialized Polymer80 firearm” used in the shooting was originally purchased as a kit in California either from Polymer80 or one of its third-party distributors who failed to conduct a background check.
On Tuesday, the deputies’ attorneys filed court documents notifying Judge Daniel S. Murphy of a “conditional” settlement and stating that a request for dismissal will be filed by December 27. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
In earlier court papers, attorneys for Nevada-based Polymer80 argued that the lawsuit did not claim that the shooter specifically sought out a Polymer80 product or received any assistance from the company in obtaining the alleged weapon. The defense lawyers also highlighted that references to school and courthouse shootings in the plaintiffs’ pleadings were unrelated to Polymer80’s products.
The attorneys for Polymer80 further stated in their court papers, “These scurrilous references – transparently and shamelessly – are designed to tar Polymer80 by association…”
The ambush of the deputies took place on September 12, 2020, while they were sitting in their patrol SUV outside a transit center in Compton. The incident was captured on surveillance video, triggering a manhunt across the county.
The suspect, Deonte Lee Murray, was arrested three days later and ballistics tests allegedly linked a handgun discarded by him during a law enforcement pursuit to the attack on the deputies.
Murray, who is a convicted felon, was legally prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm.
According to the deputies’ lawsuit filed in August 2021, “The shooter was able to commit the ambush shooting of the deputies because (Polymer80’s) deliberate and reckless acts created a direct and secondary market that foreseeably provided prohibited persons like the shooter with easy access to unserialized ghost guns assembled from kits and purchased without any background check.”
The lawsuit accuses the company of violating federal and state firearms laws and states that it is currently under federal investigation for the sale of gun kits.
Murray, age 39, was found guilty on September 28 of a crime spree that included the shootings of the deputies, which were also captured on surveillance video near a Compton transit center. The jury convicted him on 10 counts, including two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer.
In addition, Murray was convicted of one count each of attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carjacking, and robbery, along with four counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Murray could face a potential life prison term, as per Deputy District Attorney Stephen Lonseth. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for October 16 in a Compton courtroom.
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