Police Officer’s Death Unsettles Farm Town

The fatal shooting of Merced police Officer Stephan Gray -- the first in the department’s 70-year history -- was a crime this agricultural community didn’t expect, and has awakened residents to the grim reality that their town is not so small anymore.

Gray, 34, was killed April 15 after the man he was chasing on foot turned around and shot two bullets into the officer’s chest.

The suspect, 21-year-old Cuitlahuac Tahua Rivera, is still at large, police said, and a manhunt has been launched to find him.

Law enforcement agencies from across the Central Valley have descended on Merced to render aid to a department unaccustomed to this type of crime. Police headquarters, once a sleepy building with a few patrol cars, has been transformed into an all-day and all-night command post committed to finding Rivera.

“We are working 24 hours a day diligently on this,” said Cmdr. Norman Andrade of the Merced Police Department. “Officers do their regular shift and then come back and do another shift.”

On Saturday, Rivera’s mother, Erika Rivera, was arrested on charges of aiding and abetting a criminal after the two had reportedly been seen together the day after the shooting, Andrade said. She is being held in Merced County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Cuitlahuac Tahua Rivera’s sister Nancy was arrested Monday after police saw her on television protesting her mother’s arrest, officials said. The Merced County Sheriff’s Department determined that her presence there kept her from clocking into a court-ordered work program.

It’s unfortunate that the suspect “doesn’t have enough gumption to come in on his own, and other family members are suffering because of his own selfishness,” said Sheriff Mark Pazin.

Merced Mayor Hubert Walsh said Gray’s death -- and the ensuing manhunt -- has shocked a town once convinced that “these kinds of things happen only in larger cities.”

“This kind of causes you to pause and reflect ... and say, ‘Well, does it?’ ” Walsh said.

“I think in our community, we’ve really had a perception that these kinds of things don’t happen here.”

The last week’s events have been difficult to accept, not only by town residents, but by the officers working on this case.

“The harsh reality has not really set in, not even for me,” Pazin said. “Everybody’s been so busy, they’re running on adrenaline.

“They really haven’t had time to lament the loss of their law enforcement brother and friend.”

A memorial service took place Wednesday in Merced, where town residents and officers from across the state crammed into two buildings in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Dignitaries talked “about him being a hero, not in the way he died, but he was a hero in life every day,” said Paul Salvadori, one of Gray’s neighbors.

Like many in the region, Pazin admired Gray for his loyalty to his department and devotion to his family.

Early in his seven-year career, Gray received a commendation for resuscitating an 11-month-old baby.

His most recent post was on the department’s gang violence unit, where police believe he had previous contact with Rivera.

Gray was viewed by community members as someone who loved his job but never forgot his family.

“Anytime that he was off, he would be with his kids,” said Salvadori, the neighbor. “We have some very good police officers, but he was great.”