LOS ANGELES — The black-and-whites stretched for half a mile Thursday as they followed a procession of motorcycle police officers along the shuttered 10 Freeway east of Los Angeles.
They came from far and wide, even beyond California’s border to escort the hearses carrying Sgt. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana, El Monte lawmen killed in a shootout earlier this month.
Fire ladder trucks formed arches at overpasses as the procession made its way from El Monte police headquarters in the San Gabriel Valley to the Ontario sports arena, a stone’s throw away from Upland, where the two family men lived.
Paredes, a 22-year-veteran, and Santana, a newcomer to the department, were gunned down by a probationer at El Monte’s Siesta Inn on June 14 after they responded to a report of a stabbing and were ambushed shortly after entering the motel room. The two men were homegrown, Mayor Jessica Ancona said, once stars on local high school sports teams.
Paredes, 42, who started as a cadet before being sworn in as a full-time officer in July 2000, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. He was posthumously promoted to sergeant.
Santana, 31, worked for his hometown of El Monte as a public works employee for six years before starting his law enforcement career as a deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. He served at the West Valley Detention Center until October, when the calling from his tight-knit hometown was too much to resist. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and twin sons.
Justin Flores, 45, fatally shot both officers in the head after they rescued a woman from a room at the one-story stucco motel in a stretch of El Monte that has struggled with crime.
The officers were able to get the victim out of the room while Flores retreated into a bathroom. Flores then opened fire, shooting both officers in the head, sources told the Los Angeles Times. Flores stole a gun off one of the fallen officers and ran into the motel parking lot, where he engaged in a gun battle with other responding officers. He fell to the ground before taking his own life.
Flores was on probation at the time of the shooting, but his probation officer hadn’t seen him in person in more than six months. In the days before the killings, the Los Angeles County probation department received concerning reports that Flores was in possession of a gun — which he was barred from having due to a felony conviction — and that he had beaten a woman he was romantically involved with, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case.
Flores’ mother also called her son’s probation officer in early June to report he had begun using drugs again in March and begged his probation officer for help, but the officer refused to discuss the case with her.
A documented member of the Quiet Village gang, Flores had a lengthy criminal record that included convictions for burglary, multiple driving violations and a multitude of arrests for drug possession, court records show. In early 2021, he was placed on probation as part of a plea deal after he was arrested for being a felon in possession of a gun.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has faced heavy criticism for the plea deal, which some critics dismissed as too light. Deputy District Attorney Larry Holcomb said he had to revoke the strike allegation after Gascón took office, according to a disposition report reviewed by The Times. That’s because the new DA had issued a “special directive” that barred prosecutors from filing strike allegations on his first day in office.
Santana’s mother, Olga Garcia, publicly blamed a district attorney’s policy that removed prior strikes in the gun incident and would have likely required Flores to serve prison time. Gascón, who is facing a recall drive, has insisted the plea was “appropriate under the circumstances.”
