Two El Monte police officers were shot and killed Tuesday afternoon whereas responding to a potential stabbing at a motel, leaving many in this suburb east of Los Angeles shocked.
El Monte officers stated the officers were instantly focused by gunfire upon responding to the Siesta Inn close to Central and Garvey avenues.
At a news convention Tuesday evening, Capt. Andrew Meyer, who leads the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau, confirmed that officers responded to a name for a potential 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 right into a car parking zone, the place the officers fired once more.
Three officers opened hearth through the encounter, a supply in the Sheriff’s Department advised The Times. The shooting was reported round 4:47 p.m., in keeping with the division.
Two officers and the suspect were hit by gunfire, Meyer stated. The officers were taken to L.A. County-USC Medical Center, the place they died. The suspect was pronounced lifeless at the scene.
Meyer stated a gun was recovered subsequent to the suspect.
Though the mayor of El Monte stated the officers were “essentially ambushed,” Meyer wouldn’t say whether or not the officers were attacked instantly upon arriving at the motel. He declined to explain in element the sequence of occasions that culminated in the officers’ deaths.
“We don’t have all the facts yet,” he stated.
Twenty investigators on Tuesday evening were looking for surveillance video and interviewing witnesses, together with a girl who was contained in the motel room when the officers arrived, Meyer stated.
The lady, believed to be the suspect’s girlfriend, had not been stabbed, he stated.
“They were good men,” Capt. Ben Lowry, the El Monte Police Department’s appearing chief, stated of the officers. “These two heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice today. They were murdered by a coward.”
Lowry requested the neighborhood to maintain the officers’ households in their prayers.
“I’ve heard the only way to take the sting out of death is to take the love out of life,” he stated. “And believe me … these two men were loved.”
Officials didn’t identify the officers, saying their relations were nonetheless being notified of their deaths. One was a 22-year veteran and the opposite had been on the drive for lower than a yr, Lowry stated. Both had household in El Monte.
A regulation enforcement supply stated the officers had responded to a radio name at the motel, bought right into a confrontation and were shot at shut vary.
Another supply advised The Times that the suspect shot via the door after the officers knocked.
Authorities examine the scene outdoors the Siesta Inn after the shooting Tuesday evening.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A Sheriff’s Department supply stated that colleagues carried the officers to police cruisers and drove them to County-USC, which is famend for treating gunshot wounds.
“Heartbroken doesn’t begin to express the loss that we feel,” El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona stated throughout a Tuesday evening news convention. “They were acting as the first line of defense for community members when they were essentially ambushed while trying to keep the family safe.”
El Monte resident Mayra Lomeli, 49, stated she heard three pictures, inflicting her to leap below a desk at El Perico Market, a block away from the Siesta Inn.
Lomeli, a buyer of El Perico, stated she overcame her worry and ran to shut the doorway door, fearing a gunman would attempt to burst via.
The shooting suspect’s physique lies on the sidewalk outdoors the Siesta Inn in El Monte.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I didn’t know what was going on, but I know that sometimes desperate people will run into nearby buildings looking to escape,” she stated.
Lomeli stated it was slightly previous 4:30 p.m. when she heard gunshots. She was having an early dinner with a pal.
That pal, she stated, was denied entry to her dwelling across the nook from the shooting. Lomeli, who lives three blocks away, returned to her dwelling.
“Right after the shooting, the police were closing access to all local residents; even some of the store owners couldn’t get back to their business,” she stated.
The Santa Anita Avenue exit of the eastbound 10 Freeway was blocked by authorities, whereas Garvey Avenue was closed between Doreen Avenue and Merced Avenue.
“That hotel is no good,” Lomeli stated. “There’s always problems there. If it’s not drugs, then it’s prostitution.”
“On behalf of everyone in the district attorney’s office, I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the two El Monte police officers who were killed on duty today,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón stated Tuesday evening. “We stand with you at this time of great loss.”
Most of Garvey Avenue between Santa Anita and Merced avenues was devoid of exercise by 6 p.m. Police directed site visitors and nonlocal pedestrians down aspect streets. Barricades were set as much as forestall guests from parking at native shops.
Nearly each enterprise — a laundromat, King Taco, a liquor retailer and a minimarket — in the El Monte strip mall adjoining to the scene of the shooting was closed by 7 p.m., slightly greater than two hours after the incident.
A 24-hour Yum Yum Donuts retailer was the only real enterprise nonetheless open, its floodlights shining into the nightfall.
Claudia Ana Ramirez, 32, dined on a torta de pierna round 9 p.m. in the store whereas watching news of the shooting.
After a 12-hour nursing shift at a neighborhood convalescent dwelling, Ramirez had deliberate to seize groceries and choose up a few tacos. But she discovered the companies closed and the road darkish. She was grateful to have a spot to eat.
“I thought I was going to have to buy food at the gas station or walk really far away,” Ramirez stated. “I didn’t want to go home hungry.”
Tuesday’s shooting occurred about 20 hours after a California Highway Patrol officer was shot throughout a Studio City site visitors cease.
The officer was wounded and brought to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, authorities stated.
A suspect, 33-year-old Pejhmaun Iraj Khosroabadi, was arrested after a manhunt that stretched into Tuesday morning. He was booked on suspicion of tried homicide of a police officer.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s Fatalities Report, there were 62 firearms-related officer deaths in 2021, a 38% enhance over the 45 officers killed in comparable incidents in 2020.
Of the 62 firearms fatalities final yr, 19 officers were ambushed, eight were investigating suspicious actions or individuals, and 7 were making an attempt an arrest.
Anyone with information concerning the El Monte shooting is requested to name the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
Times employees author Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.