John Hernandez Felix, 26, was previously arrested as part of a failed murder plot in 2009. Felix and another suspect managed to shoot their target but he didn’t die. Felix was charged with attempted murder, discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury and association with a criminal street gang.
A suspected Palm Springs cop killer was captured early Sunday morning after a SWAT team used tear gas to force him out of a barricaded house, pelted him with non-lethal rounds until he surrendered and took him into custody.
John Felix, 26, was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying several high-capacity magazines – but did not have a firearm – when he was taken into custody, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Felix shot three police officers who came to his doorstep on Saturday afternoon, killing two of them, police said. Felix then hid in his home for about 12 hours, ignoring officers’ demands to surrender. At one point during the standoff, the suspect managed to stay hidden when a remote-control robot pried open the front door and searched the house.
Felix has been booked in the Riverside jail and will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder with several enhancements. He is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet decided if they will seek an execution, said District Attorney Mike Hestrin.
“I consider the brutal murder of a police officer to be a very heinous crime, so I will leave it at that,” Hestrin said.
[…]
