VENTURA COUNTY DEPUTY LAID TO REST : SLAIN OFFICER EULOGIZED AS DEVOTED FAMILY MAN.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer Ventura County Deputy Peter Aguirre was remembered Monday as a man dedicated to work and family - a man who had a photograph of his wife and daughter on the back of the gold badge he wore on the evening he was shot and killed. ``Peter Aguirre was a real hero. He was a lawman,'' Sheriff Larry Carpenter told a crowd of nearly 2,000 family, friends and law enforcement officers from across California during a funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church The Sacred Heart Church may mean:
Aguirre, 26, a Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. native, died after he was shot three times while standing inside the doorway of a Meiners Oaks home where he was called to handle a domestic disturbance last Wednesday. A two-year veteran completing field training, Aguirre never pulled his gun from its holster. Ventura County prosecutors Friday charged Michael Johnson Michael Johnson or Mike Johnson may refer to:
The slaying of the deputy - nicknamed ``Petie'' - came just four days after another young law enforcement officer, California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. Officer Don Burt, was killed in the line of duty In the Line of Duty may refer to:
Those are ``two too many,'' The Rev. Daniel O'Sullivan said during the Mass for Aguirre. O'Sullivan said law enforcement officers recognize the dangers of their vocation and so should the citizens they protect. ``Yet to give your life is the greatest and noblest of all sacrifices,'' O'Sullivan said. ``And so often we take our enforcement officers for granted. And we should not and must not.'' Aguirre paid a noble price beyond the call of duty, O'Sullivan said. ``These are not empty words Noun 1. empty words - loud and confused and empty talk; "mere rhetoric" empty talk, hot air, palaver, rhetoric hokum, meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality, bunk - a message that seems to convey no meaning . The proof is here this morning,'' O'Sullivan said. ``His was a life dedicated to service, cut short too soon.'' Family and friends remembered Aguirre as a loving and caring person who always put others first. Aguirre married his high school sweetheart, Enedina Garcia, whom he met in the eighth-grade. Three years ago the couple had a baby girl, Gabriela. After graduating from Santa Paula High School Santa Paula High School is one of two schools in the Santa Paula Union High School District. It is located in Santa Paula, California. , Aguirre earned his bachelor's degree in religious studies from Cal State Northridge and planned to become a teacher. Aguirre instead joined the Sheriff's Department and often talked about the exciting work with friends and family. Carpenter remembered Aguirre as a sharp young deputy who wrote in an essay on his application to the department about the challenges facing law enforcement officers today. ``It's no wonder we hired him,'' Carpenter said. ``He was confident without being abrasive. He was sensitive without being soft.'' Nearly 1,000 mourners filled the sanctuary. Hundreds more crowded onto driveways and sidewalks outside the church to hear the Mass on a loudspeaker system. Following the 90-minute Mass, Aguirre's flag-draped coffin was taken to the Santa Paula Cemetery in a motorcade led by more than 70 motorcycle patrol officers and including more than 100 patrol cars from across the state. The motorcade stretched more than three miles from the church to the cemetery. The burial, attended by about 1,200, was marked by a riderless horse The riderless horse or caparisoned horse (in reference to its ornamental coverings, which have a detailed protocol all to themselves) is the single riderless horse with boots reversed in the stirrups that follows the caisson carrying the casket in a funeral procession. , a 21-gun salute and a flyover by three sheriff's helicopters. Aguirre was the first Ventura County sheriff's officer to die in the line of duty in 21 years and the third officer to die in the county within the past year. Oxnard Police Officer James R. Jensen Jr. was killed March 13 during a drug raid when he was accidentally shot by another officer. Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. Police Officer Michael F. Clark was shot and killed Aug. 4 while responding to a call to check on the welfare of a man who had been drinking and wanted a Valium prescription refilled early. Sgt. Thomas Collins Thomas Collins is the name of:
CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--Color) Services are held Monday at Sacred Hea rt Church in Ventura for sheriff's Deputy Peter Aguirre, 26, killed last Wednesday. (2--Color) Aguirre's widow, Enedina, and daughter, Gabriela, 3, place flowers on the casket of the slain deputy. (3) The funeral procession for slain Deputy Peter Aguirre travels down the Santa Paula Freeway The Santa Paula Freeway is a minor freeway in Ventura County, California. Ironically, the freeway connects Ventura to Santa Clarita, only passing through Santa Paula. There is occasionally confusion that the freeway ends in Santa Paula. on the way to Santa Paula Cemetery. Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News |
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