Convicted Felon Fires Machine Gun on LAPD Officers: If Gascon was not our DA, this shooting would never have happened.

Posted at h in Gascon Must Go by GasconMustGo

On July 3, a convicted felon with a long criminal history used a machine gun to fire dozens of bullets at two LAPD officers during a traffic stop in the Willowbrook area. Miraculously, officers Stefan Carutasu and Joshua Rodney survived the ambush with minor injuries. If Gascon was not our DA, this shooting would never have happened.

Video of the shooting from the officers’ patrol car was absolutely terrifying, as one second they’re initiating a traffic stop and the next their windshield is repeatedly shattered by rapid gunfire. Bullets twice grazed the head of one of the officers, but did not cause life-threatening injury. Both officers were injured by broken glass.

LAPD officers later arrested Malcolm Darnell Guss, Jr. for the attack and he was charged with attempted murder of a peace officer; two counts of assault with a machine gun upon a peace officer; one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle; one count of possession of a machine gun; and two counts of possession of firearm by a felon.

Gascon issued a press release about the filing of the case, but he was deadly silent about how his policies and directives allowed Guss to be free instead of in prison at the time of the attack.

So let me tell you the history that Gascon does not want you to know:

In March 2021, Guss was given the deal of a lifetime by Gascon. Guss had two strikes on his record because of prior convictions for serious felonies when he was arrested on two different occasions for unlawfully possessing firearms. Each case could have gotten him a life sentence, but instead he got two years – total.

In one case, he was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and illegal narcotics; in the other, he was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Guss faced a potential sentence of more than 25 years to life in prison for each case, but Gascon prohibits his prosecutors from seeking that sentence. Instead, Gascon cleared both cases with an indefensible plea bargain of two years in prison.

Two years isn’t enough for one of these cases, let alone both. But Gascon gave Guss a free felony.

As a result, Guss was on the streets of L.A. County on July 3 when he nearly murdered two police officers.

This is not the first time that Gascon’s policies have put law enforcement officers at risk.

In June of 2022, El Monte police officers Joseph Santana and Michael Paredes were shot to death by 35-year-old gang member Justin Flores at an El Monte motel on June 14, 2022 – a crime that could have been prevented if Gascon had properly charged Flores in a 2021 firearm possession case.

The El Monte officers were responding to a call of a stabbing at the motel when they were ambushed and shot to death by Flores, who then committed suicide. Flores had been arrested in 2021 for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Because he had a prior “strike,” for a serious or violent felony conviction, Flores had faced up to six years in prison. Gascon told prosecutors not to file the “strike,” and instead Flores was sentenced probation with 20 days in jail.

In April of 2024, a convicted killer and longtime gang member named Raymundo Duran randomly shot sheriff’s Deputy Samuel Aispuro while the uniformed deputy rode his department motorcycle in West Covina. A bulletproof vest saved the deputy’s life. If that bullet had hit him only a few inches higher, he would likely have died.

Turns out that Duran was free and on the streets only because of a series of lenient plea bargains by Gascon. Read more: Gascon failed to protect the community from Raymundo Duran.

Gascon does not take gun violence seriously, as these and so many other cases show. Time and again, felons are given a slap on the wrist when police officers catch them illegally possessing firearms. When I’m DA, disrupting gun violence will be a top priority of my administration.

The upcoming election for DA is one of the most important races in our county’s history. We have an opportunity to vote for safer streets, and reasonable prosecution policies, instead of extreme policies that benefit only criminals.

There’s room for criminal justice reform in the DA’s Office without resorting to extreme policies that only benefit criminals. That’s why I’m urging you to reject the extreme and vote for NATHAN HOCHMAN for District Attorney.

#GasconMustGo #HochmanForDA