El Monte city officials have postponed a Main Street Farmer’s Market and Pride Night event scheduled for Thursday as the community continued to mourn the loss of two police officers.
The event was postponed “until further notice,” officials said.
Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana were gunned down while responding to a report of a possible stabbing in a room at the Siesta Inn, 10327 Garvey Ave., Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
The suspect, identified by coroner’s officials as Justin William Flores, 35, ran out into the parking lot and was killed in a second gun battle with police, officials have said.
Paredes, 42, was a 22-year veteran of the El Monte Police Department, city officials said. Santana, 31, was in his first year on the force after working at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for three years.
Both men grew up in El Monte and were living in Upland, officials said. They were both married fathers.
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A toy police car in front of a makeshift memorial for two El Monte police officers who were killed in a shootout along with the suspect at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte early Tuesday in front of El Monte City Hall in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
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Los Angeles County Sheriff detectives investigate a shootout at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 where two El Monte Police officers were shot and killed along with a suspect Tuesday evening. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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A woman sits behind a makeshift memorial for two El Monte police officers who were killed in a shootout along with the suspect at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte early Tuesday in front of El Monte City Hall in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
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A procession of law enforcement transferred the bodies of two El Monte police officers from USC Medical Center to the L.A. County Coroner’s Office. Two officers were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The officers were responding to a call of a possible stabbing at the Siesta Inn at Garvey and Central avenues where the shooting happened. (OnScene.TV)
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Arroyo High School Cross Country places roses at a makeshift memorial for two El Monte police officers who were killed in a shootout along with the suspect at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte early Tuesday in front of El Monte City Hall in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
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A picture of officer Joseph Santana at makeshift memorial for two El Monte police officers who were killed in a shootout along with the suspect at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte early Tuesday in front of El Monte City Hall in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
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Los Angeles County Sheriff detectives investigate a shootout at the Siesta Inn Motel in El Monte on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 where two El Monte Police officers were shot and killed along with a suspect Tuesday evening. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Flores was on probation for a gun violation and had a strike on his record for a burglary more than a decade ago, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and court records.
Family members told NBC Los Angeles that he worked in construction and sometimes stayed at the motel.
His wife, Diana Flores, told the station Wednesday that Justin Flores was abusing her and accused him of stabbing her the day before Tuesday’s shooting. She said she went to the motel to get away from him, but he found and confronted her.
She told the station that she had told officers not to go in the room because her husband had a gun, but they went in anyway.
“I am so deeply sorry. They didn’t deserve that, or their families,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt in this. The only person getting hurt was me and now two other innocents.”
She added that her husband had changed in the last year.
“I love my husband to death but like I said, this wasn’t my husband,” she said. “This was a monster.”
A candlelight vigil to remember the two fallen officers was planned for 7 p.m. Saturday at the front steps of the Civic Center and was open to the public with parking available at the courthouse, city officials said.
The weekly farmer’s market runs Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. on Main Street between Santa Anita and Tyler avenues and offers fresh produce, locally produced honey, homemade baked goods and more.
In May, the weekly event celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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