Slain Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. remembered at Selland Arena service

Community members and law enforcement from across the state joined family mourning Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. at funeral services Thursday morning at Selland Arena in downtown Fresno.

A bagpipe and drummer played as the flag-draped coffin of the 24-year-old Selma police officer was set at the front of an arena stage lined with flowered wreaths. The assembled crowd was a sea of blue and khaki and green uniforms, representing police, sheriff and fire departments from across the Valley, but also the Bay Area and Southern California.

All wore a black band across their badges in remembrance.

In opening the nearly two-hour service, Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Catholic Diocese of Fresno, spoke in both Spanish and English, saying the tragedy of Carrasco’s death recalls the human condition and our brevity on earth.

“Our brother died too young; he did,” Brennan said.

“But death is not the end.”

First Selma police officer killed in line of duty

Carrasco was killed while on patrol Jan. 31. He was the first Selma police officer to die in the line of duty in the department’s 100-plus year history.

He was remembered as the embodiment of the service and sacrifice law enforcement makes for their communities.

“We take an oath to show up,” said Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, speaking to the hundreds of uniformed officers in the crowd, and their families.

“We know it’s a job worth doing. It’s a privilege to serve our community this way.”

For Carrasco, it was a job he wanted from a young age, long before he applied for the police Explorers program in Reedley. His father, Gonzalo Carrasco Sr., had been a security guard and he wanted to continue in that work.

“I want to make my community better than when I found it,” he wrote in his application to the Explorers program, a portion of which was read during the service.

Once Carrasco aged out of the Explorers program, he became a reserve officer with Selma Police Department, where he was eventually hired after he graduated from the police academy in 2020.

Selma Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz remembered Carrasco as a bright light in the department and the community, someone who took the job seriously but never lost their sense of humor or smile.

Carrasco treated the department like a second home, to the point where other officers joked he should just bring a sleeping bag to the office.

He was also preparing for fatherhood himself, had bought a car seat and crib and a kept a calendar with his wife’s doctor appointments and other important dates.

While Carrasco’s life was taken, he likely interrupted someone that was on his way to do harm to others, Alcaraz said.

“For that you should be proud,” said the Selma police chief, speaking directly to Carrasco’s wife and family.

“We all are.”

Congressman Jim Costa spoke at the service with a “heavy heart and sense of sadness.” He said that far too many officers have been lost to violence of this kind and believed some in the audience may feel like they are taken for granted.

He assured them they were not.

If some good could come from Carrasco’s death, Costa said he hoped it would be state, national and local leaders coming together to find “common sense solutions to gun violence.”

“That would be a tribute.”

Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. burial in Reedley

Following the services, a motorcade escorted Carrasco’s body to the Reedley Cemetery for burial.

During the burial service, hundreds stood at attention through emotional tributes, a 21-gun salute, a mournful rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ played on bagpipes, the release of white doves and a helicopter flyover.

Carrasco’s cousin, Mariah Cortez, marveled at the number of community members who turned out to support her cousin and their family and mourn their loss.

“It feels amazing and really comforts my heart,” she told The Bee at Reedley Cemetery.

Carrasco and Cortez attended Reedley High School together. They both played basketball and graduated in 2016.

Cortez said she misses her cousin’s smile and his laugh.

“He was a jokester.”

Frankie Bustamante met Carrasco freshman year of high school when they joined the basketball team.

“He was the youngest of us, but (he) was always like the big brother,” Bustamante said of their group of friends. “Obviously, he’s a cop, you know, so he was like the protector.”

Bustamante said Carrasco had visited him at home the weekend before his tragic death.

“You know, a lot of friends separate after high school, but we didn’t separate,” Bustamante recalled. “He was like our brother; we took vacations together, took trips together.”

He said Carrasco always dreamed of being a police officer and was committed to the city’s Police Explorer program.

“So whether we were going to hang out or going to a bonfire or something, he would miss that to make sure he would go to his Explorers (activities),” Bustamante said.

It was “heartwarming,” he said, to see so many community members and police officers show their support Thursday. In recent days, Bustamante said, he’s seen police officers from as far as Texas and New York.

“I’d much rather have him here, but it’s good to see the support.”

Reedley resident Jeff Legler said the officer’s death “hit a nerve” for many reasons.

“Living in Reedley — (it’s) a small community, everyone knows everyone, which I love,” Legler said at the Reedley Cemetery.

His son attends Reedley High School.

“I have a background in law enforcement from many years ago, so it hit a nerve,” Legler said.

“And it got me thinking about what I was doing when I was 24.

Legler reflected on the sacrifices and risks police officers accept each day.

“Are you willing to give your life for a good, just reason for someone?” Legler said. “You’ve got to kind of come to terms early on with that. And it kind of came to mind thinking about the officers’ age.”