LOS ANGELES—The grieving mother of one of the El Monte Police officers who was gunned down earlier this week while on duty blamed Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón for allowing the suspect to take a plea deal in a prior criminal case in 2020.
“I blame the death of my son and his partner on Gascón,” Olga Garcia, the mother of El Monte Police Officer Joseph Anthony Santana, 31, said during a press conference outside of the El Monte Police Department on June 17.
“Gascón will never know how I feel. Gascón will never know how he destroyed our families. He won’t know how his [Santana’s] children feel. Crime is so high in California because criminals don’t stay in jail long enough. We need to make criminals responsible for their actions. We need law and order.”
“This has been a terrible week in Los Angeles. We lost two police officers and another was shot and injured. The fallen officers were husbands, fathers, and friends. We know that the families are hurt and devastated by the loss of a cherished family member.”
Suspect Justin Flores, 35, died at the scene of the El Monte shooting on June 14.
He was arrested in March 2020 and charged with possession of methamphetamine, along with being a felon in possession of ammunition and a firearm. He pled no contest to possessing the firearm after Gascón’s office dropped the other charges.
In total, Flores spent two years on probation and 20 days in jail.
The District Attorney’s Office issued a statement on June 15 defending the decision.
“The sentence (Flores) received in the firearm case was consistent with case resolutions for this type of offense given his criminal history and the nature of the offense. At the time the court sentenced him, Mr. Flores did not have a documented history of violence,” the statement read.
The officers were killed around 5:10 p.m. during a shootout at the Siesta Inn, after responding to a report of a stabbing. Both officers died at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Other critics of Gascón also blame his progressive directives for the death of the officers, arguing his “bold reforms” have resulted in an uptick in crime. The DA was elected in 2020 on a promise to implement sweeping criminal justice reforms. Some of those changes include: holding accountable law enforcement officers who violate the law, no longer charging minors as adults, eliminating many sentencing enhancements including firearms, ending the death penalty, and removing cash bail for misdemeanors or nonviolent felony crimes.
However, the Recall Gascón effort is picking up steam as the July 6 deadline approaches for the campaign to submit at least 566,857 signatures for verification. If enough signatures are verified, the recall proposal will appear on November’s General Election ballot. The campaign reports they have surpassed that amount, but they will need an extra 100,000 signatures for cushioning as some will be tossed out during the verification process.
Campaign organizers point to crimes like the recent police deaths as reason to recall Gascón. After the DA in San Francisco was just ousted by recallers during the June 7 primaries, the campaign is hopeful in L.A.
“The fact that this individual should have been behind bars if not for Gascon’s policies is beyond disturbing and makes me sick to my stomach,” spokesperson for the recall campaign Tim Lineberger told The Epoch Times. “We are praying for the families and loved ones of the officers. This was a horrific and preventable situation that they should never have been in.”
A candlelight vigil for the fallen officers will be held the night of June 18 at 7 p.m. at the El Monte Civic Center.
