Page 51 - July 2017 Newsletter

attendance.
Valadez had been on the job with CPD
only three years when, while investigat- ing a shots-fired call, he was fatally struck by gunfire on June 1, 2009. Chicago Po- lice Chaplain Robert Montelongo echoed the importance of such ceremonies.
“Alex will live on,” Montelongo said. “And that is why we all gather here today to honor and remember Alex with this memorial roll call.”
In early July, CPD officials and other came together to reflect and honor Offi- cer Richard Francis, who died on July 2, 2008, at Belmont and Western avenues, and Officer Thor Soderberg, who died on July 7, 2010. Cadets at the Chicago Po- lice Academy stood at attention during a flag-raising ceremony in Soderberg’s memory.
While roll calls for Strouse, Francis and Valadez were held at the site of their deaths, similar remembrances for other fallen officers are held at their home or other places of significance to the officer and family, Dolan said.
“There are many small remembrances, not just these memorial roll calls,” she said. d
Family and friends gathered at 6000 Block of South Hermitage Avenue to remember O cer Alejan- dro“Alex”Valadez.
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