7-Year-Old Donates Slain Father’s Flag to Sheriff’s Dept.

Seven-year-old Gabriella Aguirre was wearing an awfully big hat, but judging by the donation she made to the Saticoy Community Resource center, it is one she’s quickly growing into.

Some would say that Gabi, as she is known to those who love her, has had to grow up all too quickly in the three years since her father, Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Aguirre Jr., was slain during a Meiners Oaks domestic violence call.

But she looked like a very little girl making an enormous gesture on Tuesday as she donned her father’s pea-green dress uniform hat, tilted playfully to one side, and presented an American flag to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The flag, which had been given to her at her father’s memorial service, is for the Sheriff’s Department-run Saticoy Branch Resource Center.

Last month, Gabi noticed that a flag did not fly in front of the new building.

“I’m going to give them my daddy’s flag,” she told her 29-year-old mother, Dina Aguirre.

On Tuesday, community members and law enforcement officials said they saw Gabi’s gift as a celebration of a little girl’s strength after the loss of her father.

“It’s Peter speaking out,” Gabi’s mother said. “He’s there to guide her.”