Angel De La Fuente

49, Fresno

Angel De La Fuente made sure to attend all his kids’ football and soccer games. He even chaperoned their field trips.

“The teachers always asked, ‘Is Mr. De La Fuente going?’ They liked him because he was able to handle the children who were out of control,” said his wife, Lilia. “He was stern, but he was fun.”

He could be imposing. After serving in the Army, he joined the Fresno Police Department. Born and raised in Fresno, where he lived his entire life, he was on the job for more than 20 years, including with the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium.

“He had patrolled every district in Fresno PD’s jurisdiction,” said a department spokesman, Officer Jesus Cerda, who said De La Fuente joined the gang enforcement unit in 2015 as a detective.

Lilia De La Fuente said, “He liked to work on the East Side because he grew up there: ‘We arrested these gang members and the streets are going to be safer.’ He never told me any of the bad stuff. He didn’t want me to be scared.

“The area where he worked, people knew him by name. They knew when they’d call, he’d come out.”

Lilia and Angel met in grammar school. “He was a very, very caring man,” she said. “Very loving, very affectionate. He was a wonderful father; he did everything for his kids. He did everything for his mother.”

When Angel decided to join the force, Lilia said, “Of course I was scared; there was always a chance he might get shot or something. But this was what he wanted to do with his life. I was excited for him.

“He would always say, ‘I can’t believe they pay me to do this job.’ ”

After Thanksgiving last year, he fell ill.

“He told me, ‘I can’t taste.’ He got tested and they told him he had COVID.”

He was hospitalized Dec. 7 at Clovis Community Medical Center; fellow officers sometimes conducted briefings outside his room, where they could see him through a window.

“They’re the best,” said Lilia of Angel’s fellow officers. “They had someone outside my husband’s room 24/7.”

“The first doctor told me, ‘He’s young, he doesn’t have any underlying conditions; he can fight this,’ ” Lilia said. “He fought. He didn’t want to die. He just wanted to get better and come home.”

De La Fuente died Dec. 28 at age 49. According to the Fresno Police Department, he contracted the virus on duty, making his death “in the line of duty.”

“I like to remember how happy he was when we would have all our family together, our family parties,” Lilia said. “The last trip we went on, we went to Universal Studios. Now the kids were old enough to get on all the rides and attractions; we were all together. He took me there on my birthday.”

Angel De La Fuente is survived by his wife, Lilia; four children, Krista, Andrew, Marissa and Anthony; two grandchildren; and his mother, Marcella.