Pomona man sentenced to life for murder of police officer

A Pomona man who fatally shot a police officer in 2018 while barricaded behind a door was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Superior Court Judge Mike Camacho's office.

Isaias De Jesus Valencia, 45, was convicted in May of first-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder, according to court records. In addition to a life sentence, Camacho gave Valencia a separate sentence of 278 years to life.

In March 2018, two Pomona Police Department officers responded to reports of reckless driving and pursued the vehicle involved a short distance after it failed to stop. The vehicle crashed into a parked car near the 1400 block of South Palomares Street, where Valencia got out and led officers inside a building.

Valencia barricaded himself behind a unit door while officers attempted to arrest him. He fired six shots, hitting Officer Gregory Casillas in the head and Officer Alex Nguyen in the cheek. Both were rushed to the hospital, where Casillas died after just six months on the job, Pomona police said.

“My scars are deeper than my face,” Nguyen said at the press conference. sentencing hearing, according to CBS News. “Not a day goes by that I don’t see, feel or think about my partner. »

Casillas was a 30-year-old father from Upland.

The shootings led to a 15-hour standoff between Valencia and authorities, which ended when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested him.

Valencia has a history of arrests in the Pomona area, according to public records obtained by the Times. He was sent to state prison about nine years ago for illegal possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm in a school zone, as well as destruction of prison property, according to a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was released on probation about a year later.

According to CBS News, Valencia refused to appear in court for his sentencing Monday and appeared on camera from his jail cell.