Police1 Staff
LEMOORE, Calif. — Lemoore police officers and family members are remembering police officer Jonathan Diaz, who was killed Saturday while off duty at a birthday party.
ABC 30 reports Diaz’s fellow officers are calling him a hero for stepping in to diffuse a violent argument between county welfare fraud investigator Ramiro Trevino, Jr. and his girlfriend. According to detectives, Trevino, Jr. opened fire on Diaz and his father, Ramiro Trevino, Sr., after the argument, before turning the gun on himself.
“I believe he saved a life from a department’s standpoint,” interim police chief Mike Kendall told ABC 30. “I will treat it as an in the line of duty death.”
Juan Diaz, Jonathan Diaz’s brother, told ABC 30 that, before Saturday, he and his family saw Trevino, Jr. as one of their own. According to him, none of Diaz’s family members were near him when he was shot.
“I think he was just trying to control the situation, knowing him,” Juan Diaz told ABC 30. “Trying to calm his friend down, trying to make him realize what he was doing, and it just didn’t happen that way.”
Jonathan Diaz was hired full-time in 2017 and had recently been promoted to the Major Crimes Task Force, ABC 30 reports. He was 31 years old and left behind three children.
“He always wanted to do better, not only for himself but for the community,” Diaz’s girlfriend, Victoria Gonzalez, told ABC 30. “He said he wanted to help any way he could to get gangs off the streets, especially for his family. That’s all he wanted.”
The Kings County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation, ABC 30 reports. Results from a toxicology report will determine if Trevino, Jr. had anything in his system Saturday night.