Close-Knit Family, Friends Feel Painful Loss of One of Their Own

In this small, quiet community, word got around quickly that young Peter John Aguirre Jr. had been killed in the line of duty.

In this rustic city where families and neighbors know one another well, the Aguirres have a family history that goes back nearly 70 years. Peter’s great-grandfather opened a small market on Main Street in 1944, and his grandfather still runs it. Petey--as his family called him--used to work as a cashier when he was in grammar school.

“He was such a good boy,” his grandfather, Don Aguirre, said Thursday as he choked back tears. “He worked hard and didn’t want to ask anybody for any money. He went into law [enforcement] because he needed the money because he was getting married. He said it was a well-paying job.”

On Thursday, flags at the Santa Paula Police Department and fire station were flying at half-staff in honor of the sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot Wednesday night.

Peter Aguirre Jr. graduated in 1988 from Santa Paula High School, which has been around long enough to have hallway plaques honoring fallen alumni from World War I to the Vietnam War.

He then went off to Cal State Northridge, becoming the first grandchild to attend college, majoring in religious studies and actively participating in student groups.

At one point he considered going into the priesthood and teaching but opted for a career in law enforcement instead, his grandfather said.

But the risks involved in police work were always a concern for his grandfather, who had a close relationship with young Peter.

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On Thursday, the family gathered at his parents’ home to mourn the 26-year-old father.

“He was very dedicated to his family,” said Peter’s uncle Donald Aguirre outside the family’s brown, two-story house. “Pete was ideal. He knew what he wanted to do with his life. He was very happy.

“It’s just a shock.”

Donald Aguirre said the family was in shock but holding up well, thanks in part to the many phone calls and visits from friends they had received throughout the day.

In the middle-class neighborhood of Spanish-style stucco homes where the family has lived for more than 15 years, neighbors recall Pete as a smiling young man with a positive attitude.

In this neighborhood, where families hold barbecues and holiday parties together, it was as if they had lost a member of their own family.

“He would never argue with anybody. He was a good guy,” said Alvino Ortega, whose children went to school with Peter. “It doesn’t fit, you know--all the good guys go first.”

Peter Aguirre Jr. was the oldest child of Marie and Peter Aguirre, a Vietnam War veteran. He was their only son and served as a role model for his two younger sisters, Aileen, 24, and Jeanne, 15, according to friends and family.

When Peter Jr. went to college, he became active in Native American and Chicano causes, according to his uncle. Although his relatives and friends described him as a shy, private person, he served as president of the American Indian Student Assn. and organized the annual powwow in 1991.

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At the time, he stated in an article in The Times that his goal was to increase Native American enrollment and help students of disadvantaged backgrounds successfully complete their university years.

“The university is not really geared for obtaining Native Americans and retaining them,” Aguirre, then 21, told The Times.

When he graduated and decided to become a police officer, neighbor Lily Ortega said Marie Aguirre was initially taken aback.

“Marie was kind of surprised,” said Ortega. “But then they became very proud.”

But beyond police work, his 3-year-old daughter, Gabriela, and his wife, Enedina, known as Dina, were the center of his life, his uncle said.

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Even though he moved to nearby Saticoy with his family, neighbors in Santa Paula said they saw him nearly every weekend, when he and his family would visit his parents.

His uncle remembers the last time he saw Peter Jr., on his day off Tuesday. By Wednesday night, his uncle said, “That’s it.”

His grandfather, Don Aguirre, is not sure why, but he saved the now faded and torn newspaper photograph of Peter Jr. on the day of his high school graduation.

At his market on Thursday, he dusted the photo off and gazed at it intently.

“He worked here since grammar school to have some extra money for food and gas,” Pete’s grandfather said. “I wish he would have become a teacher, then he would still be alive.”