Robbery Suspect Is Charged in Death of His Accomplice

A robbery suspect who shot it out with Los Angeles police in Newbury Park last week was charged with murder Monday for his alleged role in the death of his accomplice.

In addition, Ventura County investigators revealed Monday that a detective involved in the June 26 gunplay may have been hit by a bullet fired by a colleague.

Authorities said the Los Angeles Police Department’s covert Special Investigations Section tailed two men into Ventura County, watched them rob a liquor store, then returned fire as one suspect tried to shoot his way out of a police blockade.

Robert Wayne Cunningham, 31, of Reseda, was charged with a count of first-degree murder in the incident because allegedly he fired shots prompting the police gunfire that killed his accomplice, Daniel Joseph Soly, 26, said Ventura County prosecutor Richard Holmes.

“In a robbery, if you provoke by your actions a lethal response . . . and the lethal response kills your confederate, you’re guilty of first-degree murder,” Holmes said.

Cunningham also faces robbery, burglary and conspiracy charges for allegedly holding up the South West Liquor & Deli at gunpoint and three counts of first-degree attempted murder for allegedly firing at three officers. Bullets missed Detective James Harris, said Holmes, but hit detectives Philip Wixon and Larry Winston.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Robertson said that Winston, Wixon’s partner, may have been hit in the abdomen by an LAPD bullet, not by Cunningham’s gunfire.

Evidence shows that Soly may not have used his gun before he was shot to death, Robertson said. A fully loaded six-shot revolver was found on his person when his body was pulled from the car in which he and Cunningham tried to escape, Robertson said.

LAPD investigators have reached no conclusions about Winston’s injuries, and are still looking into the shooting, said Lt. John Dunkin, an LAPD spokesman. Meanwhile, Wixon and Winston have been released from Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, officials said.

Cunningham, who also was shot in the incident, remains hospitalized. Sources have said a bullet lodged near his spine has left him unable to fully move his legs, but no report on his condition was available.

Cunningham is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at 1:30 p.m. in Ventura County Municipal Court, Farley said, but the proceedings cannot take place unless he is well enough to attend.