The only reminder inside the Salon Ocampo banquet hall of the fatal shooting of a police officer almost a month ago is a 5-inch-by-5-inch piece of wallboard with a bullet hole through the middle.
The hole was from one of the stray bullets in the early morning shooting on May 8 that killed Detective Donald “Donnie” Young, who was working off-duty to provide hall security.
Owner Ruben Huizar keeps the removed portion of the wall in a small bag behind the front counter and has promised it to a Denver police officer. He plans to lay flowers in the hall on Wednesday’s one-month anniversary of the shooting.
Business has returned to normal at his Salon Ocampo banquet room on Denver’s southwest side, with families renting the hall for birthdays, weddings and baptismal parties.
The room where Young died has been scrubbed of the chaos from that night. But memories remain in Huizar’s head. And Detective Young, he says, always will be in his heart.
“I keep expecting him to walk through the door,” said Huizar, who has hung Young’s framed photo inside the entryway of his home. “We will remember him every day … with that big smile.”
Huizar was overjoyed when his daughter called Saturday night with news that authorities had captured suspected shooter Raul Garcia-Gomez in Mexico.
A girl’s 15th birthday party was underway in the hall, and two Denver police officers were providing security – the same as Young was doing almost a month ago. Huizar called one officer over to look at the news breaking on TV.
“He got a big smile, and he was, like, ‘Right on,”‘ Huizar said. “Everyone wants to know that they got the guy.”
It’s true. Nearly everyone is pleased the police got their man.
But some in the Latino community are angered with anti-immigrant sentiment that has been raised in connection with the shooting. And some believe police have gotten more aggressive against Hispanics.
“Because of the fault of one Mexican they think that all Mexicans are alike,” said Uriel Godinez, an 18-year-old from Jalisco, Mexico, who was relaxing at Huston Lake Park on Sunday. “I don’t know why people think we’re bad people. We’re not. Most Mexicans are peaceful.”
Some critics, such as U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, have said police should have detained Garcia-Gomez when he was stopped three times for traffic violations between October and May 8.
“They said if he would have been deported, that officer would have been still alive,” said Pierre Jimenez, an activist. “That’s speculation. This person was obviously operating with criminal intent. But the vast majority aren’t here to do criminal acts. It cast an aspersion on the community that really wasn’t called for.”
Activist LeRoy Lemos said that everyone he has talked with is pleased Garcia-Gomez was arrested.
“But there is also a feeling that the entire community has been criminalized because this idiot in this one act.”
Lemos has seen police step up patrols on cruising and has heard an anti-immigration sentiment, from lawmakers such as Tancredo to irate callers on talk radio.
“It is absolutely irresponsible and unacceptable,” Lemos said.
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer may be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
