Exactly one year after their shooting deaths in the line of duty, McAllen police Officers Edelmiro Garza Jr. and Ismael Chavez were honored Sunday with the unveiling of the newly renamed Garza-Chavez Police Community Network Center.
The facility was previously known as the Los Encinos Police Community Network Center before being renamed in Garza’s and Chavez’s honor. Garza and Chavez were shot and killed on July 11, 2020, while responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Police at the time said the shooter was waiting for the officers at his front door and shot them before they could draw their weapons.
Their deaths have since deeply affected the McAllen Police Department and community, Chief Victor Rodriguez said at a dedication ceremony held at the center Sunday, in which members of the officers’ families and local officials were in attendance for the occasion.
A supportive community has since embraced the families, bringing the city closer to the Garzas and Chavezes as they mourn their deaths.
“We’ve been very blessed; we gained more members of our family,” Maru Falletich, Chavez’s sister, said. “The Garza family is a wonderful family, and my sister and I now have other sisters.”
She said although it has been difficult she finds comfort in knowing they are healing together.
Edelmiro Garza Sr. said he greatly appreciates the tribute for his son and will always remember him for the good he did for his family.
“He was a son you could be very proud of,” Garza said.
Falletich described her brother as a servant for his community and is proud that he died doing the very thing that inspired him.
“He died doing what he loved, it was his childhood dream to be a police officer,” she said
Events such as the Beyond the Call of Duty motorcycle organization also honored the officers. A mural dedicated to the officers was also painted at the Boys and Girls Club in McAllen, and the McAllen Independence Day Parade was grand marshaled by the officers’ families.
Rodriguez said he was thankful to the McAllen City Commission for dedicating the facility in honor of his fallen officers. A resolution was created by city officials authorizing the renaming of the building.
Commissioners from all six districts spoke at the unveiling to show their support for the families.
McAllen City Manager Roel Rodriguez said, “This building and now this monument will from this day forward hopefully close that huge gap that was created and continue that promise that we made that day.”
As community members unveiled the monument, the families of Garza and Chavez wept. The chief said the ceremony was a solemn event with the “full intent of honoring our two fallen officers in a way that will forever keep their memory alive.”
“We wish we were not here because if that were so, that would mean that our loved ones, your loved ones would be with us guarding this community right now,” Rodriguez said.
The chief then became emotional as he relived the radio call he and his staff received on that day last year.
“One year ago we heard the most dreaded words that can be uttered over a police radio,” he said. “These words cut through the souls of every officer that hears them. There is nothing worse that can be said across that radio for any one of our officers working and listening to the radio.
“We never wanna hear these words and we pray to God that we never hear these words again. The radio came about this way, ‘McAllen officer down.’”
After the unveiling, Rodriguez led the community in a moment of silence for 38 seconds — the total of the number 7, 11 and 20 — the date of their last day of service.
At the event, Garza’s and Chavez’s families were presented a Purple Heart pin, in honor of the officers wounded in action.
Officers of the McAllen Police Department then laid down their ceremonial mourning pins at the foundation of the building as a symbol of their unity.
