LOS ANGELES_A Utah man suspected of killing a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and another man in a pair of seemingly random shootings was charged with two counts of murder Thursday, officials said.
Rhett McKenzie Nelson, 30, did not enter a plea during a brief court appearance Thursday after he was charged with the deaths of veteran Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Solano and 30-year-old Dmitry Alekseyevich Kolstov, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors say Nelson opened fire on Solano inside an Alhambra Jack in the Box restaurant at 5:45 p.m. Monday. Solano was shot in the back of the head and died Wednesday, officials said.
"He confronted a threat, not knowing what it was, and in a split second he lost his life, and that's what it is in law enforcement," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who fought back tears when he announced Solano's death Wednesday.
An hour before the attack in Alhambra, prosecutors say, Nelson had shot and killed Kolstov, who was sitting in a car in downtown Los Angeles. Kolstov was shot at 4:50 p.m. after a brief verbal exchange and was pronounced dead at the scene less than 20 minutes later, said Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
Nelson was also charged with one count of attempted murder for shooting at another man who was with Kolstov, said Detective Meghan Aguilar, a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman. That man was not injured.
Investigators have not identified a motive in either killing. They said Nelson did not attempt to rob Solano or anyone else inside the Jack in the Box. Solano was not wearing his badge, gun holster or anything else that would have indicated he was a sheriff's deputy, and it does not appear that he was targeted because he was a law enforcement officer.
Prosecutors filed two robbery charges against Nelson on Thursday, alleging that he robbed a gas station and a 7-Eleven in Long Beach the same day as the shootings. Police in San Diego also consider him a suspect in five armed robberies in recent days.
It is not clear whether Nelson has retained counsel. A spokeswoman for the family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nelson's arraignment was continued until July 22 and he remains jailed without bail.
If convicted of murder with special circumstances, Nelson could face the death penalty or life without parole. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty.
Nelson was arrested Tuesday in Long Beach after calling his father in Utah and making reference to having killed someone in Southern California, investigators have said.
A resident of St. George, Utah, Nelson was reported missing in late May. He left home with a gun and told his family that he planned to "make it on his own or die," said St. George Police Department Capt. Mike Giles.
Nelson had a history of problems with drug abuse and his family was concerned about his mental state, said Giles, who added that Nelson did not have a diagnosed history of mental illness.
