LOS ANGELES _ A parolee with an extensive criminal history appeared in court for the first time Friday to face a murder charge in this week's shooting of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's sergeant in Lancaster this week, authorities said.
The charges could make Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, of Lancaster, eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted in the shooting death of Sgt. Steve Owen, a 29-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department and a Medal of Valor recipient, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.
Lovell faces six additional charges: attempted murder of a second sheriff's deputy, two counts each of residential robbery and false imprisonment, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Lovell was ordered held without bail.
The arraignment for Lovell, a Lancaster resident, was put off until Nov. 14.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said there is a possibility that Lovell could face additional charges.
Authorities said Lovell was on parole when he encountered Owen, 53, outside an apartment complex Wednesday afternoon with a stolen gun.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who refused to speak the suspected gunman's name at a news conference earlier this week, said the shooter wounded Owen, and then stood over his body and pumped an additional four rounds into the lawman's body.
"This was a calculated execution," McDonnell said.
After the killing, authorities said, Lovell ran to the front of the apartment complex and tried to steal Owen's cruiser. A second deputy confronted him and opened fire on the cruiser, but Lovell threw the car into reverse and rammed a second patrol car, which struck the deputy and injured him, authorities said. Lovell was shot and wounded in the shoulder, officials said.
Lovell jumped out of the cruiser and ran into a nearby home, where two teenagers were inside, sheriff's officials said. Prosecutors said he held the teens hostage at knifepoint. One of the teens texted a message to his mother, who alerted authorities.
Sheriff's SWAT deputies entered the home to rescue the teens. Lovell fled out the back and was captured after he jumped over a fence into a neighboring backyard, authorities said.
Lovell's rap sheet dates back to when he was a juvenile selling marijuana, McDonnell said. After that, he was arrested 11 times, two of which landed him in state prison, the sheriff said.
Prosecutors said Lovell was convicted of robbery as a juvenile in 2006.
In 2008, he pleaded no contest to resisting arrest and was given a 90-day jail sentence. Months later, he was arrested on suspicion of pointing a gun at an off-duty Uninversity of Southern California security officer and robbing him of his wallet, cellphone and watch near campus. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records.
Lovell served roughly five years in custody, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records. As a prisoner, Lovell served his time in multiple locations, including in Oklahoma, Arizona and various prisons in California, said Luis Patino, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
He was paroled June 23, 2014. His parole was scheduled to end next year.
Last year, he pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol and causing injury to another person, court records show.
Lovell was ordered to complete a nine-month first-offender program for drunk drivers and enroll in a drug and alcohol counseling program. In that conviction, he was ordered to serve 15 days of jail, and given 36 months of summary probation, according to Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office.
He was scheduled to appear in court Oct. 24 for a progress report.
Residents of the apartment complex where Owen was killed said they were not surprised to hear Lovell's name linked to the shooting. They said Lovell sometimes stayed at one of the building's apartments where his sister was living.
Blanca Oseguera, 38, said she was involved in a confrontation with him weeks earlier, after he cursed at her daughters while he smoked marijuana outside.
"I told him, 'You shouldn't be here; you don't live here,' " she said.
Oseguera and another woman, 26-year-old Cynthia Appleby, said Lovell was known to have a "hot temper."
Lovell's aunt, Deborah Matute, said she hadn't seen her nephew since he moved out of her Harvard Heights-area apartment in Los Angeles earlier this year. When Lovell lived with her, there were no problems, Matute said
"He's a nice person when he wants to be," she said.
