REEDLEY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – We’re learning more about Selma officer Gonzalo Carrasco killed in the line of duty Tuesday night.
Carrasco grew up in Reedley and went to Reedley High School.
Officer Gonzalo Carrasco graduated from Reedley High School in 2016, his coach tells us he was one of their best athletes.
“When I think about him I think about his smile and his laugh, to be honest,” said Darren Minami.
Darren Minami remembers Carrasco running down the court in the gymnasium like it was yesterday.
“He was just a joy to coach, one of those kids was like a coach’s dream because he was very competitive very talented but a super hard-working young man,” said Minami.
Minami says he’s known Carrasco since the sixth grade when he started picking up sports and got the chance to work with him closely in high school as a coach.
“Gonzalo was one of our best athletes on campus his senior year… he played for me on varsity for two years, he was in the basketball program for two years,” he added.
Minami says Carrasco was always a good student and started getting interested in law enforcement and policing at a young age. He was at a Reedley basketball game Tuesday night when he got the devastating news of Carrasco’s passing. The team held a moment of silence in his honor.
“It’s tragic for a young man who chooses a career of service to give back to a community like Selma, which is very similar to the community he grew up in Reedly that’s the type of guy he was,” he said.
Minami says Reedley High and the city of Reedley, where Carrasco grew up lost a good one.
“Even in high school, he was showing a, drawn towards law enforcement and had goals to become an officer and he did that. The thing about Gonzalo was that he was very talented but he was also one of the hardest-working kids that we had,” he said.