The parolee accused of killing Lancaster sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen in an “execution-style” shooting has been charged with capital murder.
Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, was charged Friday, two days after Owen was shot while responding to a residential burglary call. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges.
Lovell appeared Friday at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, where his family members blew kisses and waved to him.
Lovell seemed nonchalant in court, not looking at the judge and at times squinting through the glass that separated him from the audience.
His arraignment was postponed to Nov. 14.
Lovell was convicted of robbery as a juvenile in 2006 and again, as an adult, in 2009, the DA’s office said.
He allegedly shot 53-year-old Owen after the sergeant arrived at a home in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7 just after noon Wednesday. Owen went around the back of the home to secure it and was “immediately” shot by Lovell, according to Sheriff Jim McDonnell.
“He then stood over him and executed Sgt. Owen by firing four additional rounds into his body,” McDonnell said Wednesday.
The DA’s office referred to the killing as an “execution-style shooting death.”
Sources told KTLA that Owen was initially shot in the face. He died after being taken to Antelope Valley Hospital.
Lovell was arrested after initially jumping into Owen’s patrol car and ramming it into the vehicle of another responding deputy, who shot Lovell in the torso, authorities said.
Lovell then fled into a home — where two teens were present — and was forced out by a special weapons team. He held the two teens at knifepoint, the DA’s office alleged.
Lovell surrendered without incident after exiting the rear of the home. The teens were physically unharmed.
He was charged with one count of murder with the special circumstance allegations of murder for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest and murder of a peace officer.
He was also charged with the following: attempted murder with an allegation that he used a patrol car as a deadly and dangerous weapon; possession of a firearm by a felon with priors; two counts of first-degree residential robbery; and two counts of false imprisonment by violence with a knife-use allegation.
The attempted murder charge is for the deputy, said Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake, who is prosecuting the case.
State prison records show Lovell was released in June 2014 after serving about four years, nine months of a six-year sentence for second-degree robbery. He was given credit for about 11 months in jail.
Lovell faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted as charged.
It is far too early to know whether the death penalty will be pursued, Blake said. Additional charges may be filed in the “complicated” case, he said.
Lovell was ordered held without bail.
