Federal investigators, El Monte police, and L.A. County sheriff’s deputies arrested alleged members of the Quiet Village gang on Wednesday morning, naming the group in a series of indictments that accuse them of conspiring to commit murder, violent crimes, and drug trafficking.
The cases stem from the killing of two El Monte police officers last June during a confrontation at a motel with a member of the gang. Officers Michael Paredes and Joseph Santana were responding to a report of domestic violence when Justin Flores — a documented member of the Quiet Village gang with multiple prior convictions — shot them in the head.
In the wake of the double murder, a joint task force of local police and federal agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has targeted the Whittier area-based gang with ties to the Mexican Mafia.
Several suspected members of the gang’s leadership were taken into custody Wednesday during a series of early morning raids at homes across the area. Nine people, including some who were already behind bars on other charges, are named in a series of indictments, one of which alleges violations of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.
According to law enforcement sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press, in addition to the killing of the officers, the gang organization and its members have been tied to at least one other killing and one attempted murder as part of its organized narcotics trade.
The U.S. Attorney, FBI, ATF, El Monte’s police chief and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna are scheduled discuss the outcome of the investigation at a news conference Wednesday morning in El Monte.
The killing of Santana and Paredes occurred June 14 ast year when the officers were responding to a report of domestic violence at El Monte’s Siesta Inn. The officers were able to get the purported victim out of the motel room, but Flores then emerged from a bathroom and shot them both in the head, police said.
Flores stole a gun from one of the fallen officers and ran into the motel parking lot, where he engaged in a gun battle with other responding officers. Authorities say he fell to the ground before taking his own life.
The families of officers Santana and Paredes have filed litigation over the circumstances that allowed Flores to be free at the time of the shootings, alleging a combination of poor supervision by the Los Angeles County Probation Department and a plea deal that was struck in 2021 as part of Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s broad sentencing reforms.
Flores was on probation as part of a plea deal struck in 2021 after he’d been arrested on suspected possession of a firearm and methamphetamine. With a prior burglary conviction, Flores could have faced several years in prison under California’s “three strikes” law.
But the prosecutor assigned to the case said he couldn’t seek the enhanced sentence because of one of many sweeping policy changes Gascón made on his first day in office, according to a document reviewed by The Times.
Gascón had enacted a policy barring strike enhancements in late 2020, but it was later deemed illegal by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. A spokesperson for the office also said last year that the prosecutor on Flores’ case could have requested a policy exemption if they believed the defendant was especially dangerous, and that no such request was made. Gascón also argued that the plea deal was consistent with similar offers made by his predecessor’s administration.
The Probation Department came under scrutiny after a Times investigation revealed Flores had not received a single in-person visit from a probation officer for at least six months before the killings.
In the days before the shooting, probation officials also learned Flores was allegedly in possession of a gun, using drugs, and beating a woman he was in a relationship with. All are violations of the terms of his probation and could have triggered an arrest. A preliminary report by the L.A. County Office of Inspector General later revealed probation officers saw Flores in person just one time during the 16 months he was under county supervision.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
