TAFT, Texas — For three years, Officer Daniel Trujillo served the people of Taft. On Monday night, those who knew him best gathered to remember the man behind the badge.
Fellow Taft Police Officer Lauren Balderas described Trujillo as someone who could light up any room.
"Serious, yet the goofiest person you'll ever meet. He comes off very serious, but as soon as you get him to open up, he is just goofy, funny, and all around just the person that lightens up a room as soon as he walked in," Balderas said.
Trujillo was found dead inside his Houston apartment on Oct. 23. Houston police say the 36-year-old had been shot multiple times.
Balderas had only known Trujillo for about five months, but says the two became close in that short time. Trujillo was supposed to relieve her from her shift the day she learned he had been killed.
]"Honestly, I was in shock, disbelief, didn't want to believe it was true... There was nothing you could do to convince me that, you know, what I was hearing was true. I just talked to him two days earlier," Balderas said.
Taft Police Chief Kirk Massey said Trujillo was the kind of officer he saw becoming a leader in the department — always learning, always training and always looking for ways to better serve the community.
"He was someone that I looked at to be an upcoming leader in our department. As the department expands, he's the person that I would have been tapping into to be one of the next supervisors," Massey said.
Massey also remembered the simple way Trujillo looked out for the officers taking over the next shift after long nights on duty.
"In the mornings when I saw him, he was always smiling, you know, and his
last words is always, 'Have a safe shift.' So he's a special guy," Massey said.
Above the badge, the training and the job, those who knew Trujillo say there was one person always at the center of his world — his son. According to his family, Trujillo's baby boy was nearby when he was killed.
"He was a hero, and I think it's deserved to be known. I think his son deserves to know his dad was a hero... everything Daniel did, he did out of the kindness of his heart," Balderas said.
Monday night's service gave the community a chance to say goodbye. For the officers who served beside Trujillo, it was also a chance to make sure the man they knew — and the legacy he leaves behind — is not forgotten.
The investigation into Trujillo's death is still ongoing.
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