El Monte honors officers killed two years after shooting – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher stands at attention during a memorial for slain officers, Sgt. Michael Paredes and Joseph Santana, photo background, Friday, June 14, 2024. The officers were killed in the line of duty two years ago. A short ceremony took place in their honor on Friday to mark the second anniversary. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

El Monte community members and leaders gathered at the city's police station Friday, June 14, to commemorate the second anniversary of the fatal shootings of officers Joseph Santana and Michael Paredes.

Wreaths honoring Santana, his officer, and Paredes, a sergeant, were displayed next to a memorial that honors those who fell in the line of duty.

Painted stones surround plaques placed on the ground with the badge numbers of Paredes and Santana – 565 and 706, respectively.

At noon, El Monte police officers stood in front of the memorial to begin a 24-hour watch — standard procedure in the event of a police officer death. Every 15 minutes for 24 hours, two officers are activated to monitor the Santana and Paredes memorial in front of the police.

Two years ago, Santana and Paredes responded to a 911 call from Maria Zepeda, who reported that her daughter, Diana Flores Cruz, had been stabbed by her husband, Justin Flores, at the Siesta Inn.

Santana and Paredes knocked on Flores' hotel room door for several minutes. When the door opened, Flores shot the two officers and later killed himself.

Two years later, it was clear Friday that the community, police officers' families and municipal staff were still grieving.

At one point, members of the Paredes came to reflect on the solemn place.

Jake Fisher, chief of the El Monte Police Department, said Friday that since the day of the shooting, the deaths of Santana and Paredes have been “emotionally devastating” for his department and city employees.

“We got a little closer. We have a long way to go,” he said. “We preach continuous improvement [and] we improve a little every day in all components and entities of the police department and in ourselves.

Since the deaths of Santana and Paredes, El Monte police have sought to “improve their operations and efficiency.”

“With the support of our city manager and the majority of our city council, we have been given a lot of resources to make improvements,” Fisher said.

Some of these specific internal improvements include the installation of a phone tree for all non-emergency calls. Additionally, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems will color-code and sound key words to dispatching officers, such as “knife” or “gun,” to alert potential dangers as they arrive on scene. places.

These improvements came amid criticism that while key information — such as that Flores was on drugs — was entered into the responding officers' computer-aided dispatch system at the time, it was not broadcast on the radio.

That issue, along with criticism from the District Attorney's Office of an earlier plea deal that placed Flores on probation instead of a “third strike” on his record, has sparked tension, drawing anger from members of the family against the city and county.

A lawsuit filed against Los Angeles County, LA County Probation, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, District Attorney George Gascón and the Siesta Inn on behalf of the Santana and Paredes families recently reached a settlement.

A judge dismissed the county's defendants last year.

Fisher said the city's policing community is “very close-knit.”

“We rely heavily on communication efforts with the liaisons – whoever they may be – with the family. We have been in constant communication with them [the Paredes and Santana families] through the department’s family liaisons to try to support them as best we can,” Fisher said.