SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Peace Officers Research Association of California has established a fundraiser for the family of Damon Gutzwiller, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Deputy who was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday in Ben Lomond.
The account has collected more than $320,000 for the Gutzwiller family. To donate click here.
Gutzwiller, 38, left behind a 2-year-old son and a wife who is three weeks away from delivering their second child.
“Our law enforcement community is in mourning and is asking for your donations for the family,” the fundraiser states. “No amount of monies will make this tragedy right, but it will allow the people Damon cared about most to continue their lives without thoughts of financial issues. All monies donated will go directly to his family.”
Gutzwiller first joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2006. Sheriff Jim Hart has called Gutzwiller a “true hero.”
“In this era that we’re in, what you want to see in a police officer—compassion, caring, someone who truly loves his job who wants to help people, that’s what Damon was,” Hart said.
