For the past eight years now, the Reedley Police Department is honoring the sacrifice officer Javier Bejar made in the line of duty.
[Ads /]
Even though time has passed his brother says the pain form the loss is still there.
"It still feels the same way as it did when it happened. We were all together yesterday in remembrance of it and it still feels the same," said younger brother Omar Bejar.
In 2010 Bejar was gunned down while helping serve a warrant in the town of Minkler but he was not the only one who made the ultimate sacrifice. Fresno County Sheriff Deputy Joel Wahlenmaier also lost his life.
Both of their names remembered in the peace garden where tragedy struck.
[Ads /]
"His name is not forgotten, and it just does not become a name on a piece of stone or paper it is a name that is remembered in our hearts and our minds," said Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza.
Their act of heroism now a reminder of what other officers put on the line every day when they go to work.
"Take today not only as an opportunity to remember Javier and the sacrifice that he made but also as a reminder to thank those men and woman in uniform who give every day," said
Through friends and family, Bejar and Wahlenmaier will live on.