Grieving family members, law enforcement colleagues and political leaders will gather today to bid farewell to a San Diego police officer killed last week in the line of duty.
Advertisement
After the memorial service in El Cajon, the huge motorcade will wind its way to Glen Abbey Memorial Park on Bonita Road, where De Guzman’s body will be laid to rest. De Guzman was shot five times at close range while in the driver’s seat of his patrol vehicle.
On Friday, Aug. 5, Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon will host an open memorial service for De Guzman at 11 a.m., which California Governor Jerry Brown is scheduled to attend.
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A man immediately opened fire on a San Diego police officer who walked up to him on a dark residential street last week to ask if he lived nearby, then shot into a patrol vehicle, hitting the officer’s partner with five bullets as he sat wearing a seat belt, prosecutors said.
Residents lined the street outside the Southern Baptist church, waving flags and holding signs.
Mourners who attended the vigil said it was attractive but a heartbreaking service for a father who left behind a wife and two children. Known as “J.D.”, he spent 16 years on the force, much of it patrolling a culturally rich area of immigrants where more than 50 languages are spoken.
Gomez, 52, allegedly shot Irwin and opened the passenger door, firing several times into the patrol vehicle and killing De Guzman.
Neither prosecutors nor police have discussed a motive for the shooting.
The decorated officer was given a Purple Heart after he was stabbed during a traffic stop 13 years ago, joined the SWAT team in his 40s, and was honored for taking down a suspect armed with a firearm and pipe bombs.
San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, who worked directly with De Guzman earlier in her career, delivered the eulogy at Thursday’s standing-room only service, which was closed to news media. He is survived by a wife and two children. De Guzman’s relatives say they just want the community to know how grateful they are for all their support.
Gomez’s son, Daniel Gomez, told The San Diego Union-Tribune that he believes his father is innocent.
The 43-year-old lawman and his gang-unit partner, Officer Wade Irwin, 32, were shot during a pedestrian stop in Southcrest late on the night of July 28. “After all he would say: ‘Much work to do”. Jonathan De Guzman was shot five times at close range while in the driver’s seat of his patrol vehicle. De Guzman, a 16-year veteran, is survived by a wife and two young children. De Guzman who was fatally shot in the driver’s seat of his patrol auto after his partner approached a man on the street will be buried Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.
Advertisement
Prosecutors charged a man with murder and attempted murder after allegedly killing one veteran police officer and wounding another during a gun battle in a San Diego neighborhood on Thursday, July 28.
