McAllen honors memory of fallen officers with radio silence

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — On the five-year anniversary of their death, the McAllen Police Department is honoring the lives of Officer Edelmiro Garza Jr. and Officer Ismael Z. Chavez with a moment of radio silence.

Garza and Chavez died on July 11, 2020 while responding to a call for service at the 3500 block of Queta Avenue. The nature of the call regarded a domestic assault and when the two officers approached the front door of the home they were ambushed, shot and killed.

Their deaths shook the McAllen community and Police Department, who reiterated that their officers did not stand a chance in this attack, given that they had only just knocked on the suspect's door.

Five years later, the department is honoring Garza and Chavez with 38 seconds of radio silence, the sum of 7/11/20, the date of their end of watch.

On Friday at 3:29 p.m. those over the radio will hear the following:

“At this moment on July 11, 2020, Officer Edelmiro Garza Jr. and Officer Ismael Z. Chavez responded to a Call-For-Service at the 3500 Block of Queta Ave. Officer Garza and Officer Chavez lost their lives responding to that call for service.  They are two of five McAllen Police Officers killed in the line of duty.” 

Additionally, the department has also chosen to honor the memory of fallen Officer Federico R. Saenz, Officer Rosalin Suarez, Jr., Officer Reynaldo V. Lopez.

Saenz died March 26, 1933. Suarez died May 19, 1981 and Lopez died July 10, 1993.

The department says that with this moment of remembrance, it honors the fallen and prays for all who continue their mission.