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ALHAMBRA, Calif. – The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputy shot at an Alhambra Jack in the Box is in grave condition, LA County Sheriff’s officials said.

Deputy Joseph Gilbert Solano, 50, was off-duty and out of uniform, standing at the restaurant counter when he was shot in his head. Deputy Solano is currently in the hospital on life support. Prior to the shooting Deputy Solano was getting his ill mother’s vehicle serviced at a Jiffy Lube near the Jack in the Box where he was shot. Deputy Solano has been the sole provider and caregiver for his mother since the recent passing of his father.

Homicide investigators said that at around 10:00 a.m. the suspect went into a church on Clark Avenue in the City of Long Beach. He called his father in St. George, Utah and told him he had committed murder while being in Southern California. Authorities said that his father called the Long Beach Police Department to report what his son had told him. Using a reverse directory on the phone number provided by the suspect’s father they found the location.

Authorities went to the church and witnessed the suspect driving away in a 2012 Kia Sorento matching the suspect vehicle description. Officers followed the vehicle and conducted a Felony traffic stop. The suspect vehicle pulled into the driveway of a home in the 2400 block of Granada Avenue. The suspect, identified as Rhett Nelson, 30, was arrested without incident.

The clothing worn at the time of the shooting could clearly be seen through the window, sitting on the backseat of his vehicle. Homicide detectives believe that the suspect may have had involvement in other crimes in other areas of Southern California, one being shortly before shooting Deputy Solano killing a 30-year-old man. Investigators said that Nelson has only been in California since the first week of June and lives in St. George, Utah.

A search of the suspect vehicle was done and a weapon matching the revolver used in the shooting was collected as evidence.