Vigils and fundraising continue for Selma police officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr.

REEDLEY, Calif. (KFSN) -- For more than two hours Saturday, dozens of people gathered at Pioneer Park to honor Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. Two of his closest friends were among the crowd and shared some memories of their decade-long friendship.
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Vigils began shortly after people learned an officer was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon and have continued daily after it was announced Carrasco died that same day.

On Saturday, people in Reedley came together to honor him once again.

For two men there, Carrasco had been like a brother.

Since they were 14, Carrasco, Frankie Bustamante, and Lucas Aquino were a trio.

"We first met playing basketball together," Bustamante says. "We played our freshman year and we met at tryouts."



"It doesn't feel like 10 years. It feels like 20, 30," Aquino says reflecting on his friendship with Carrasco.

A friendship that carried the men through high school and into adulthood.
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"One of the few things that we're really happy we got to do is go to Vegas with him. That was one of the things we talked about from freshman year when we were young," Bustamante says. "We just talked about the other day, we're going to have to do this every year in his honor."

For the friends, it's also the loss of what could have been.

"One of the last times I spoke to him he told me as soon as you get that head coaching job I'm there to be the assistant," Aquino says.

Officers from the Reedley Police Department were among those in the crowd.



Honoring the young officer lost from the tight-knit Fresno law enforcement community.

"He started his career here with the Reedley Police Department as an Explorer and for him to go out in this way. It's devastating."
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Community members and friends of Officer Carrasco also held a fundraiser for his family Saturday morning.

Many volunteers came out to help make and sell taco plates in Reedley.

All the proceeds will help support Carrasco's family and the child he was expecting with his partner.

Carrasco's friends say being a police officer was something he had talked about since he was a teenager and they were incredibly proud of him for achieving his dreams.



They plan to continue to honor his memory in ways they think would make him proud.

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