This past Tuesday evening, a pair of police officers from California were shot and killed in the wake of being “essentially ambushed” while they responded to a call.
The shooting happened just outside of a motel located in El Monte, a city found within Los Angeles County, where both of the responding officers and the suspect that has been accused of the killings were shot dead. The officers that responded, one of which was still within his first year on the job and another who had well over 20 years of experience, arrived on the scene to respond to an alleged domestic violence situation, as reported by officials from the city.
“As our officers do on a daily basis, 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,” stated Jessica Ancona, the Mayor of El Monte.
The nature of the reported domestic violence call seemed to be reported as a stabbing, and police officials stated that the two officers “immediately took gunfire” once they arrived on the scene at the motel. As of writing the identity of the suspect has not yet been released.
As reported by authorities, the gunfight kicked off within a motel room after which the suspect attempted to flee out to the parking lot where even more gunfire took place.
“I’ve heard that the only way to take the sting out of death is to take the love out of life. Believe me, they were loved. These two men were loved. They were good men,” stated Ben Lowry, the interim police chief for El Monte.
He went on to add that the slain officers were heroes.
“They paid the ultimate sacrifice serving their community trying to help somebody,” stated Lowry. “They do what hundreds of thousands of men and women do every day across the United States. They took an oath to protect people and to serve them. These two heroes paid the ultimate sacrifice. They were murdered by a coward.”
El Monte, the city police department, and the El Monte Police Officer Association came together to release a statement labeling the killing of these officers as a “senseless act.”
“There are no words to describe our grief and devastation by this senseless act as we learned about the passing of two of our police officers. It weighs heavy on our hearts and we are sending our support to their families,” read the released statement. “We would also like to thank the El Monte community and our surrounding government agencies for the outpouring support we have received in the last few hours.”
As reported by CBS Los Angeles, “dozens” of police cars rode in escort of the car carrying the bodies of the slain officers to the coroner’s office from the hospital that they had been taken to in the wake of the shooting.
Dozens of police cars in El Monte traveled together to County USC Hospital to join in the procession to escort the two fallen officers to the Coroner's Office https://t.co/rpvioKcogS pic.twitter.com/8UgzUsaVgx
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) June 15, 2022