A search for a more settled, slower-paced life that brought a family from Los Angeles to Denver was shattered when police accused a member of shooting down an officer in cold blood early Sunday.
Rosalba and Leopoldo Rivas were in shock Tuesday after spending all night with police. Police searched their home for evidence left by Raul Garcia-Gomez, their daughter’s boyfriend, who is suspected of fatally shooting a police detective.
“This is a terrible crisis,” Leopoldo said. “He was fine; he was calm. We never saw any problems with him. We don’t know what to think.”
The first the family suspected that something was terribly wrong was when police showed up with guns drawn.
The Rivases don’t know where Garcia-Gomez, 19, is, but they are cooperating with police and are encouraging their daughter, Sandra Rivas, 18, to tell police anything she knows. Garcia-Gomez and the Rivas family moved to Denver about nine months ago to begin a new life and to find steady work.
They thought they had found a comfortable place to settle. Extended family lives just blocks away from their home in southwest Denver. Three weeks ago, Sandra gave birth to Garcia-Gomez’s daughter.
Now they worry the community will perceive them as a bad family. They are struggling imagining Garcia-Gomez would ever shoot a police officer.
The family said they have nothing bad to say about Gomez, who was always respectful and kind to their daughter. They were happy with her choice of a partner, Rosalba Rivas said.
But now he has to deal with his own problems, Rosalba said. Still, she cries for her daughter and her new granddaughter, Stacy. Sandra cried for hours and refused to eat when they found out from police that Garcia-Gomez was the prime suspect.
The couple has been together for a year, Sandra Rivas said. When her family moved to Colorado, Garcia-Gomez came with them. Garcia-Gomez, from Mexico, bused tables and washed dishes at the popular Cherry Cricket restaurant and bar.
Saturday, the family went to the baptism party at Salon Ocampo. The baby at the center of the celebration is the son of Leopoldo’s nephew, Daniel Rivas.
As the party was ending, police detectives Donald “Donnie” Young and John “Jack” Bishop were both shot while working off-duty security. Young died at the scene.
Marbella Sanchez, mother of the child who was baptized, said she knew Garcia-Gomez because of their family connection. He was invited to the party with Leopoldo Rivas’ family.
She saw him for an instant at the party, but there were a lot of people there and she did not see him again.
“We feel so bad because it happened at our party. It was supposed to be a happy day,” she said. “There wasn’t a fight or anything. Everything was fine, there is no explanation.”
Rosalba says that if Garcia-Gomez did shoot the officers, she hopes he gets caught.
“We never thought in our wildest dreams he would do this,” Rosalba said. “We would never let him do something like this. We still have our doubts he did it.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
