LOS ANGELES — The gunman who allegedly killed two El Monte police officers Tuesday when they responded to a call at a motel was on probation for a gun charge at the time of the shooting, law enforcement sources said.
The suspect’s mother, Lynn Covarrubias, confirmed Wednesday that her son Justin Flores was killed by police in the shooting.
Covarrubias, 54, said her son and his wife were separated and would often stay at the Siesta Inn motel on Garvey Avenue. The couple had a 7-year-old daughter. She said she didn’t know any details about the shooting or what prompted it.
Two sources with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office identified the gunman as Flores. One said Flores was on probation for a gun possession offense at the time of the shooting and had been arrested last year for possessing a firearm and narcotics. They spoke to the Los Angeles Times on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
According to court records, Flores pleaded no contest on Feb. 10, 2021, to being a felon in possession of a firearm as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges of felon in possession of ammunition and possession of methamphetamine.
Details of what exactly happened during the shooting Tuesday remain unclear.
Capt. Andrew Meyer, who leads the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau, confirmed that officers responded to a call for a possible stabbing at a motel, that they confronted the suspect in a motel room and fired their weapons, and that the suspect ran out of the room and into a parking lot, where the officers fired again.
Three officers opened fire during the encounter, a source in the Sheriff’s Department told the Times. The shooting was reported around 4:47 p.m., according to the department.
Two officers and the suspect were hit by gunfire, Meyer said. The officers were taken to L.A. County-USC Medical Center, where they died. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meyer said a gun was recovered next to the suspect.
Although El Monte’s mayor had said the officers were “essentially ambushed,” Meyer would not say whether the officers were attacked immediately upon arriving at the motel. He declined to describe in detail the sequence of events that culminated in the officers’ deaths.
Twenty investigators on Tuesday night were searching for surveillance video and interviewing witnesses, including a woman who was inside the motel room when the officers arrived, Meyer said.
The woman had not been stabbed, he said.
Covarrubias did not know who was was in the room with her son during the shooting. Her son’s wife called Tuesday and said he was dead, but Covarrubias didn’t believe it.
“Even the pictures they showed me of my son lying on the ground, I just thought, ‘Take him to the hospital. You can save him,’” Covarrubias said.
She said police have been rude to her and tried to detain her for several hours after the shooting, even though she was not at the motel when the shooting took place.
Covarrubias said she thinks it’s rude for police to all her son a “coward.”
“It hurts to hear them say that. He was a person too. He had a daughter,” Covarrubias said.
El Monte resident Mayra Lomeli, 49, said she heard three shots, causing her to leap under a table at El Perico Market, a block from the Siesta Inn.
Lomeli, a customer of El Perico, said she overcame her fear and ran to close the entrance door, fearing a gunman would try to burst through.
“I didn’t know what was going on, but I know that sometimes desperate people will run into nearby buildings looking to escape,” she said.
Footage reportedly showing part of the incident showed police arriving at the scene amid the sounds of rapid gunfire.
Officials did not name the officers, saying their relatives were still being notified of their deaths. One was a 22-year veteran and the other had been on the force for less than a year, Lowry said. Both had family in El Monte.
“They were good men,” Capt. Ben Lowry, the El Monte Police Department’s acting chief, said of the officers. “These two heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice today. They were murdered by a coward.”
“Heartbroken doesn’t begin to express the loss that we feel,” El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona added during a Tuesday night news conference. “They were acting as the first line of defense for community members when they were essentially ambushed while trying to keep the family safe.”
Covarrubias said of her son: “I want them to know in spite of what happened, he was loving and caring.”
