SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) - Friday marked one year since San Diego Police Officer Jonathan DeGuzman was shot and killed while on patrol in Southcrest.
The past year has been tough for DeGuzman's family, but the law enforcement community has rallied to support them.
A local Assemblywoman is pushing for a new way to honor the fallen officer by dedicating a South Bay bridge in DeGuzman's memory.
Jonathan DeGuzman, a 16-year veteran of the force who was married with two children, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The 43-year-old died at Scripps Mercy Hospital after doctors' efforts to save him failed.
DeGuzman and his partner, Officer Wade Irwin, 32, came under fire moments after pulling over to talk to a man behaving suspiciously in a neighborhood just east of the intersection of Interstate 5 and State Route 15.
Five rounds struck DeGuzman while he was still seated behind the wheel of his cruiser. Irwin suffered a serious but non-life-threatening wound.
DeGuzman received the purple heart in 2003 after he was stabbed by a man he had stopped for speeding. The man was convicted of attempted murder on a peace officer in 2004.
In the days following his death, several of the slain officer's rank-and-file colleagues praised DeGuzman, a native of the Philippines who emigrated to San Diego when he was 20, as a consistently cheerful, generous and supportive colleague and a dedicated son and father to his own two children.
The SDPOA established the DeGuzman Memorial Bridge Fund to support the project to rename the Palomar Street Bridge in Chula Vista after fallen San Diego Police Officer Jonathan "JD" DeGuzman.
This effort has been led by Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzales Fletcher and Shirley Weber and Senator Ben Heuso.
On Saturday, officers teamed up with a local crossfit gyms to honor DeGuzman by breaking a sweat. The "GS 24 Memorial Workout of the Day" was created in DeGuzman's honor, GS 24 being his on duty call sign, and several gyms around the county ran customers and visiting officers through the regimen.
To help reach the goal of $10,000, the public can donate online.
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