Community remembers fallen deputy
Gathering in memory of a former Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office deputy, more than 100 people shared a moment of silence Monday in a county park.
The strip of shaded green space off Willowbrook Lane was the same park where Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller would regularly bring his dog, in the neighborhood where he bought his first home. Gutzwiller, 38, had been killed on the job during a shootout in Ben Lomond, exactly two years prior, at 2:26 p.m.
Santa Cruz County 2nd District Supervisor Zach Friend, during a short afternoon ceremony, described the day's event as a chance to turn the page on a day of grief, moving toward a “time of hope and opportunity.”
“On this day, two years later, in a park that meant so much to him and his family, I can feel it and I know you can too, his presence here today,” Friend said. “To transition us from the sorrow into something more hopeful and meaningful. A place to reflect, a place to recreate as a community and a place to honor someone who deserves so much of that on our behalf.”
In May, the Board of Supervisors voted to formalize Gutzwiller's attachment to the park by extending its name to the Willowbrook County Park in Honor of Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller. A community effort to raise funds to renovate the park, including the addition of a permanent memorial space, remains ongoing. Demonstrating an early product of that effort, Friend and Santa Cruz County SheriffCoroner Jim Hart unveiled a new park sign Monday.
Memory leaves lasting impact
Former Santa Cruz
County Sheriff Steve Robbins, who said he hired Gutzwiller some 16 years ago, was among the remembrance's attendees. Robbins recalled Gutzwiller as a “great deputy” who “lit up a room when he walked in.” His loss, said Robbins, was a tragedy that hit everyone hard.
“During my time — I got hired in `78 — we lost Mike Gray, a deputy, in 1983. I used to work with him and he got shot,” Robbins said. “So, it was like, oh no, this has happened again. It's a reminder that … you just never know.”
In addition to the support shown among community members and Sheriff's Office personnel in the wake of Gutzwiller's death, Hart told the gathering that he was grateful for the legislation inspired by the sergeant to grant survivor benefits to partners and family, regardless of marital status.
“And I'm thankful that this park is being reimagined and renovated in Damon's name, so that we all have a place to come reflect and remember him,” Hart said. “Our hearts are cracked, but we are not broken. We will continue to honor Damon's memory by serving our community with dignity and respect and being the best law enforcement officers that we can be. And that is what Damon would want.”
Retention struggles
Hart, who is running unopposed in this week's primary election for his third four-year term in office, said after the ceremony that he personally gave consideration to not re-seeking the position after Gutzwiller's death. Ultimately, however, he decided to seek to continue his work, in order to set an example. Hart said he could name at least five of his employees in the past two years who had cited their coworker's slaying as their reason for leaving the job. The work to heal from such a loss, he said, does not happen overnight.
“It's hard to find people who can pass the background, who have education, who want to get into this line of work,” Hart said. “The last thing I want do is have any perception that I'm leaving the office for reasons other than it's my time to go. So, I felt like it was important for me to set that example.”
Gutzwiller's accused killer, Ben Lomond resident Steven Carrillo, 34, was sentenced Friday to a prison term of 41 years on federal charges related to a separate slaying he carried out in Oakland a week before Gutzwiller's June 6, 2020 death. Carrillo's capital murder case related to Gutzwiller's shooting remains pending in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, with a trialsetting hearing scheduled for June 20. It remains unclear if Carrillo will seek a plea deal in Santa Cruz County, similar to his move in the federal case.
For more information on the Willowbrook County Park's remodeling and fundraising efforts, visit countyparkfriends.org/willowbrook.html.