A viewing and rosary service will be held Sunday for Downey Police Officer Ricardo Galvez, who was gunned down during an apparent botched robbery while sitting in his parked car near the Downey police station.
Galvez, 29, was fatally shot on Nov. 18 while sitting in his BMW 335, clad in street clothes, in a public civic center parking lot adjacent to the Downey police station in the 11000 block of Brookshire Avenue. The five-year department veteran died at the scene.
The rosary and viewing will be held between 5:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday at the Downey Civic Theatre, 8435 Firestone Blvd. Doors will open at 5 p.m.
A funeral service will be held at 9 a.m. Monday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., in downtown Los Angeles. A gravesite salute, with full police honors, will be held immediately following the funeral service at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, 3888 Workman Mill Road.
Investigators said Galvez was returning to the police station after taking part in a canine training session when he was killed. Three people have been arrested and charged with murder, with police and prosecutors saying the trio were looking to rob someone and were apparently unaware Galvez was a police officer.
Steven Knott, 18, and Jeremy Anthony Alvarez, 21, are being held without bail, while Abel Diaz, who turned 17 on Friday but is being prosecuted as an adult, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
In addition to murder, all three are facing a single count of second- degree robbery, along with gang and gun allegations. The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during an attempted robbery.
Knott and Alvarez face a possible death sentence. Diaz, because of his age, faces a maximum of life in prison without parole. They are all due in court for arraignment Dec. 17.
Alvarez, the alleged getaway driver, was taken into custody following a police pursuit that ended in the 1000 block of Carob Way in Montebello soon after the shooting. He was caught by officers as he tried to run through the backyards of some homes.
Authorities said the other two suspects were seen fleeing into a nearby home and taken into custody by members of a sheriff’s special weapons team after warrants were obtained.
Downey police spokesman Lt. Mark McDaniel said Galvez is survived by his mother, a brother and two sisters. Galvez was in the U.S. Marine Corps prior to becoming a police officer, serving two tours of duty, one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan.
— City News Service