The mother of a slain Los Angeles police officer who was assassinated earlier this week slammed District Attorney George Gascon’s woke policies, alleging that her son might still be alive today if the culprit hadn’t returned to the streets.
In a motel gunfight in suburban Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, Olga Garcia, the mother of killed El Monte Police Officer Joseph Anthony Santana, 31, and his partner Cpl. Michael Domingo Paredes, 42, were shot dead.
‘I blame Gascón for the death of my son and his partner,’ Garcia said through tears during a news conference outside police headquarters on Friday, according to Spectrum1 News.
‘Gascón will never understand my feelings. Gascón will never understand what he did to our family. In part, he won’t know how his Santana’s]children are feeling,’ Garcia added.
On Tuesday afternoon, both cops were dispatched to a stabbing incident at a motel in El Monte, California.
At the time of the shooting, the gunman, Justin William Flores, 35, a gang member, was on probation for a prior weapons charge.
During the shootout, Flores killed himself.
Garcia slammed Gascon during a FOX News interview, saying he has “crazy beliefs about giving criminals a smack on the hand.”
‘Death row and the three-strikes law must be reinstated.’ ‘We need to enforce our laws so that no more cops die,’ she said.
Garcia expressed her dissatisfaction with the system, claiming that if the serial criminal killer hadn’t returned to the streets, her son and his partner would still be alive.
‘Gascon is basically letting all these criminals out, and they just keep committing crime after crime,’ Garcia said. ‘He should have been imprisoned.’
‘District Attorney George Gascón of Los Angeles grants criminals more rights than police officers,’ she continued.
Flores received the illegal weapon penalty in 2021 as part of a light plea deal made achievable by the local DA’s liberal prosecution laws.
Flores did not have a “recorded history of violence” when he was sentenced, according to Gascon’s office.
Flores would have likely received a term of up to three years in prison if he had been charged in February 2021, according to sources from the DA’s office, according to the news site.
According to the statement, ‘the sentence he received in the handgun case was commensurate with case resolutions and the nature of the offense.’
The police, El Monte Police Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana, came under fire after knocking on a door to one of the motel’s rooms, according to a source familiar with the situation.
El Monte Police Officer Joseph Santana and Cpl. Michael Paredes were killed in the firefight, which occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. local time, according to officials.
Flores had an extensive criminal record dating back more than a decade at the time of the incident, and had been forbidden from possessing a firearm since 2011.
The case has now aroused uproar, with many praising Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon for his enlightened policies, which allowed Flores to be released from jail at the time of the shooting.
Flores, who was already on parole at the time, pled guilty last year to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a felony conviction that, according to law enforcement sources, should have landed him back in jail for at least three years.
Gascon, who was sworn in as part of a wave of woke prosecutors who promised to investigate alternatives to punishment in late 2020, was given the bare minimum penalty of two years probation and 20 days in jail.
Prosecutors dropped narcotics charges against Flores, who was accused of possessing methamphetamine as well as ammunition for the illegal firearm, as part of the plea deal.
Flores completed the 20-day sentence in early 2021 and was free by February of that year, according to court records.
Furthermore, Flores’ parole officer had summoned him to court the day before the shooting for a probation violation stemming from his girlfriend’s accusation that he had abused her the week before.
Flores, on the other hand, was not apprehended.
According to court documents, the hearing was set for June 27.
When asked why Flores was not jailed for the violation on Wednesday, a representative for the Los Angeles County Probation Department said the department was “currently reviewing the situation further.”
The sentencing is consistent with Gascon’s ideas, which have included slamming ‘tough on crime’ tactics as racist and a failure and advocating for more intervention and rehabilitation rather than jail in the criminal justice system.
A state appeals court recently chastised him for refusing to prosecute three-strike cases, which aim to impose tougher terms on people who have been convicted of certain offenses three times.
Despite having a prior gun strike on his criminal record, the statute permitted Flores, who was facing his third strike, to plead no guilty and obtain a lenient punishment.
Flores’ first strike originates from a conviction more than a decade ago for breaking into his grandparents’ home.
Flores would have received the full three years for the gun charge if he had been charged prior to Gascon’s installation of the policy in February 2021, according to sources in the district attorney’s office.
Gascon’s office defended the decision not to give Flores a heavier punishment when asked about it on Wednesday.
‘Given his prior history and the nature of the offense, the sentence he received in the firearm case was consistent with case resolutions for this type of offense,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Mr. Flores had no documented history of violence at the time the court condemned him.’
Flores had been forbidden from carrying a gun since 2011 after serving two prison sentences for burglary and car theft.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials told NBC that Flores was so well-known in the area that at least one of the two dead cops would have recognized him immediately and by name.
Conservatives and outraged liberals have branded Gascon as “radical” and “soft on crime” over the error.
‘Officers Paredes and Santana gave their lives in the service of their fellow countrymen,’ Republican Senator Ted Cruz tweeted. Because of the reckless acts of George Gascon, a radical, soft-on-crime, Soros-backed DA, the murderer was not in jail.’
‘Gascon flat out murdered those individuals,’ tweeted lawyer Kurt Schlichter.
‘Your condolences won’t bring back the lives you’re responsible for killing, nor will your sympathies cover the compensation these families will undoubtedly receive from LA County,’ a Twitter user commented in response to Gascon posting his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to the families of the deceased policemen.
That will be paid for by us, the taxpayers.’
‘If I were you, I would store this tweet as a template so you could easily modify the police department name if you’re going to keep dumping these dangerous criminals into our society,’ one user tweeted. Sending condolences is part of your administration’s failure.’
‘The killer was on probation after a plea deal with you for felon with a firearm,’ another tweeted. He then proceeded to do this.’
It comes as Gascon faces a recall movement for the second time in less than a year for his divisive policies.
Gascon’s opponents attempted and failed to recall him from office in May of last year.
Despite collecting over 200,000 signatures from LA residents in just a few months, the campaign fell short in October, failing to reach the required 580,000 LA County voters.
Since then, a wave of ‘flash mob’-style robberies, assaults, and shootings have only gotten worse for Gascon, prompting a second recall move against him on Monday.
The latest recall attempt was prompted by a series of smash-and-grab incidents and brazen shootouts in the capital this year, which saw a range of high-end businesses ruthlessly ransacked and hundreds killed.
People are being slain at a higher rate in the renownedly progressive county than they were in 2021, when killings reached a 15-year peak.
So far this year, there have been 162 slayings in Los Angeles, which is nine more than the same period last year.
Assaults have also increased by approximately 5% since 2021, with 8779 instances reported so far.
Robberies, on the other hand, have increased by 22%.
Flores’ wife claimed that her husband had previously assaulted her, and she warned Paredes and Santana that he was carrying a gun inside a motel when they responded to a stabbing report.
Diana Flores claimed that he had assaulted her two days prior and that she had fled to the motel to avoid him, but that he had tracked her down.
‘I’m so sorry, my deepest condolences for saving me, I’m so, so, so sorry,’ Diana cried as she spoke to KCBS-TV. ‘Neither they nor their families deserved it. They didn’t, in fact. They were attempting to assist me, and I told them not to enter the room before they did. He’s armed.”
Flags at the state Capitol will be flown at half-staff in their honor, according to Governor Gavin Newsom.
Both Paredes and Santana were raised in and worked for the city of El Monte, a suburb of 107,000 people in the San Gabriel Valley, with one on the force for more than two decades and the other for only a few months.
They were the third and fourth officers to die in the line of duty in the history of the El Monte Police Department. On Saturday, there will be a candlelight vigil.
To honor the fallen officers, mourners left bouquets, floral wreaths, and candles outside the El Monte police station on Wednesday.
Flores’ attorney in the case did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, and the county’s probation department declined to comment. Flores, according to the Los Angeles Times, had violated his probation, resulting in his return to court.
There are few details about what happened during the violence on Tuesday. Around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, the cops responded to the Siesta Inn in El Monte, east of Los Angeles, for a welfare check where a woman had allegedly been stabbed.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide Capt. Andrew Meyer said the deputies ‘confronted the suspect.’
According to Meyer, shooting erupted inside a motel room, and the gunman then escaped into the parking lot, where additional gunfire erupted.
Meyer said he couldn’t tell if the officers were shot inside or outside the motel. They passed away in a hospital. At the site, a gun was discovered.
Investigators are questioning a lady from the hotel who they believe is the suspect’s girlfriend, according to Meyer. Because she hadn’t been stabbed on Tuesday, Diana Flores, who described herself as the suspect’s wife and had his first name tattooed on her chest, told KCBS that authorities must have been responding to a ‘false call.’
‘The day before, I was stabbed,’ she informed the TV network.
More criticism is likely to be directed towards Gascon, who is presently facing a recall due to his policies. The recall campaign announced on Wednesday that they had collected the required amount of signatures to continue with a vote on the recall.
According to a news release, Paredes began his career with the agency as a cadet before becoming a full-time officer in 2000. His wife, daughter, and son survive him.
When Santana was slain, he had only been with the El Monte force for about a year. According to the news release, he formerly worked as a deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for three years.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department remarked on Twitter, “This awful tragedy hits near to home for us.” ‘He was a fantastic companion who was adored by everyone who knew him.’
Before joining the police department, Santana worked for El Monte as a part-time public works employee for six years. His wife, daughter, and twin sons survive him.
El Monte temporary Police Chief Ben Lowry described the policemen as “heroes” on Tuesday.
‘These two men were adored,’ said Lowry. ‘They were fine gentlemen. They made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their community and attempting to assist others.’
‘They were slain by a coward, and we are weeping,’ he explained.
The officers died “while trying to keep a family safe,” according to El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona.
The murders occurred just one day after a California Highway Patrol officer was shot and badly injured during a traffic check in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City.
The cop, who is 27 years old, is expected to make a full recovery, according to police. The defendant, who surrendered to police in a homeless encampment in the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday, was tracked down with the help of a bloodhound.