The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is being blamed for the shooting deaths of two police officers by a gang member on Tuesday, a direct result of his soft-on-crime policies enacted shortly after taking office.
Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana of the El Monte Police Department were killed by a criminal on probation in an ambush at a motel Tuesday night.
The shooter would have been in prison on a previous gun charge if not for Gascon’s soft-on-crime policies, said former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.
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In speaking to the Washington Examiner, Colley said, “Apparently, the indulgent sentence given to this ex-con with a gun enabled him to be out when he should have been in. And when he was out, he got another gun and murdered two police officers.”
“This is a direct result of Gascon’s policies, which required the least charges and minimal sentences.”
On his first day in office, Gascon enacted changes to criminal policies, which included forbidding prosecutors from filing additional charges for using a gun, which could result in a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Tuesday’s shooter, Justin Flores, was given a 20-day jail sentence in 2021 and had a part of a gun possession charge dropped in exchange for a no-contest plea in court. He was out on probation from that charge, which under the old policy, would have kept him from being able to possess a gun or have access to ammunition.
According to Cooley, the city would have prosecuted Flores’s gun charge before Gascon’s policy changes. The result would have been a minimum of 18 months in jail, so Flores would still be in custody and unable to carry out the horrific murder of those two officers this week.
On Tuesday, El Monte Police Department officers arrived at the Siesta Inn in response to a 911 call about a possible stabbing. The two were met with excessive gunfire at the property. Both officers sustained extensive injuries and later died at a hospital. Flores fled to the parking lot and encountered additional police officers who shot him dead.
Rest in Peace Corporal Michael Paredes (left) and Officer Joseph Santana (right)