The man accused of fatally shooting a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy responding to a domestic violence call in Rancho Cucamonga pleaded not guilty to murder and other counts on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
Angelo Jose Saldivar, 47, of San Bernardino appeared in Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga wearing a brace and sitting in a wheelchair. He was injured when a deputy who had been off-duty knocked him from his motorcycle on the 210 Freeway in Upland during a pursuit following the Oct. 27 shooting.
Saldivar was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Deputy Andrew Nunez and one count of attempted kidnapping of his ex-wife. He was also charged with four counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count each of discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, evading an officer with willful disregard, false imprisonment by violence, and battery on a spouse or child’s parent in a complaint filed Monday.
The complaint also includes the special circumstance allegations that Saldivar killed a peace officer in the performance of his duty and to escape arrest and intentional discharge of a firearm. Those allegations make Saldivar eligible for the death penalty if District Attorney Jason Anderson decides to seek that.
Deputies were called to the home of Saldivar’s ex-wife after witnesses reported Saldivar attempting to force her into a car at gunpoint, authorities have said. The couple had divorced this summer. The ex-husband hid as Nunez arrived and allegedly shot the deputy as he stood behind the door of his patrol car, a source close to the investigation told the Southern California News Group.
Saldivar then fled on a motorcycle and engaged deputies in a pursuit that reached 150-plus mph before the collision sent him flying over the hood of the deputy’s car, according to authorities and newscast video.
Saldivar, who the Public Defender’s Office represents, is due back in court on Nov. 10. He is being held without the possibility of bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.