EL MONTE, Calif. (KNX) — Two police officers died after being hospitalized Tuesday evening, wounded in a shooting in El Monte, an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson confirmed.
Deputy David Yoo said the pair had responded to a report of a possible stabbing at the Siesta Inn motel near Garvey and Central avenues around 5:10 p.m. The department described an attack of gunfire bombarding the officers as they arrived at the scene. Investigators could not specify where and when the officers were shot.
"Heartbroken doesn't begin to express the loss that we feel," El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona said during a news conference. "They were acting as the first line of defense for our community members when they were essentially ambushed while trying to keep a family safe."
Sheriff’s deputies have not provided any information about the alleged suspect, who died from his gunshot injuries. Police said they interviewed a woman believed to be the dead suspect's girlfriend.
Units from the L.A. Police Department dispatched to assist El Monte with investigating and securing the crime scene.
Neither El Monte city officials nor the police department has identified the deceased officers. One officer was a 22-year veteran; the other joined less than a year ago, the acting police chief said.
"These two men were loved. They were good men," the city's acting police chief, Capt. Ben Lowry, said during an update provided from the hospital Tuesday night. "They paid the ultimate sacrifice. They were murdered by a coward."
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of two officers in El Monte tonight," Gov. Newsom's office said in a statement Tuesday night. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department also tweeted its condolences to the officers' families.
On Wednesday, the suspect, who was also killed in the shooting, was identified by his mother as Justin William Flores, according to KTLA.
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