Slain SAPD officer honored at funeral

SAN ANTONIO — Growing up on the West Side, Miguel and Arturo Moreno did everything together: played games, watched cartoons, pranked their three sisters, competed in sports.

Arturo Moreno always knew his older brother had his back, even years later at Lanier High School, where Miguel was a senior and Arturo was a freshman.

“Miguel was an intelligent, independent, very competitive, self-driven individual,” Arturo Moreno recalled. “He always looked out for me.”

During a two-hour funeral service Friday morning, Arturo Moreno — joined by hundreds of police officers, friends, family and strangers — honored his brother, a San Antonio police officer who was killed in a shootout north of downtown San Antonio last week.

The funeral — by turns religious, joyful, reflective and somber — celebrated the life of a man who served the city for nine years. Speakers remembered Moreno as a hard worker who was proud to be a San Antonio police officer.

“He was quiet, confident, very athletic and carried with him a big, pearly white smile,” said Officer Joshua Flanagan, who was in the same cadet class. “Mo was also funny and quick with a joke. He had an easy manner about him. He was simply someone you wanted to know.”

Moreno, 32, was shot June 29 after approaching two men while on directed patrol. He died the following day.

Moreno was accompanied by Officer Julio Cavazos, who was critically injured in the shootout.

Cavazos, 36, received a standing ovation during the service, which fell on the one-year anniversary of the Dallas shooting that left five police officers dead.

The service also included remarks from Gov. Greg Abbott, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and SAPD Chief William McManus, who became impassioned as he talked about the number of police officers killed in the line of duty.

“What other job requires a person to wear body armor at the start of their workday?” McManus asked. “What other job requires someone to be careful where they eat because someone may drop something in their food because they don’t like cops? And why in the world would someone have to sit with their back to the wall? These are everyday realities for police officers nationwide.”