Douglas County – The widow of Denver police Detective Donald “Donnie” Young said she doesn’t care whether Raul Garcia-Gomez moves through the legal system in the U.S. or Mexico, so long as “justice is served.”
“He’s going to pay for what he did. Whether that is here or in Mexico, that is not going to bring Donnie back,” Kelly Young said of the suspect arrested Saturday in connection with her husband’s murder. “If I had my choice, I would have liked it if he was still in the U.S., but I’m just glad he got caught. And I am in support of whatever (Denver officials) decide to do.”
Mexican officials refuse to extradite prisoners who would face life in prison without parole or death sentences in the U.S.
So only hours after Raul Garcia-Gomez was arrested in Mexico, authorities began speculating about what it would take to bring him back to Denver. District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said Saturday that he would consult with the Young family before making any decisions about extradition.
In an interview at her Castle Pines home Sunday, Kelly Young said she is thrilled and relieved at the news of Garcia- Gomez’s capture in Culiacán, Mexico.
“From what I understand, he may not serve as long down there, but it is much harder time,” she said. “Either way I think it will show people that if you make bad choices like this, it will have a negative impact on your life.”
Police allege that Garcia- Gomez ambushed Donnie Young and Detective John “Jack” Bishop, who survived his injuries, when the officers were working off-duty at a private event early on May 8, Mother’s Day.
Bishop and his family could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Kelly Young said as soon as police officials thought Garcia- Gomez left the country, they spoke to her about what that meant to the case.
“They’ve really been taking care of me,” she said.
Two of Donnie Young’s former partners have called nearly every day to update her on the investigation and to offer help, she said.
Young said those calls were part of an outpouring of support from the community.
On Sunday, she and her daughters, Kelsey, 5, and Kourtney, 13, finished a poster-sized thank- you card for a landscape company that planted a Brandywine crab-apple tree – a species that flowers each year around Mother’s Day – in the Youngs’ front yard.
Michael Davis and a crew from his landscape company showed up the day after Donnie Young was killed and went to work. He had never met the Youngs before.
As for Garcia-Gomez, Kelly Young said she still does not know the details of his arrest. But she knows she has a list of officers to thank.
“That group of people that put their lives on the line to make the arrest,” she said, “they’re at the top of the list.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 720-929-0893 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
