‘He was truly a great kid.’ Killed Selma police officer a well-loved student in high school

This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative — a bilingual, community journalism project funded by the Central Valley Community Foundation and with technology and training support from Microsoft Corp. The collaboration includes The Fresno Bee, Valley Public Radio, Vida en el Valle, Radio Bilingüe and the Institute for Media & Public Trust at Fresno State.

Gonzalo Carrasco Jr., the 24-year-old father-to-be killed in the line of duty as a Selma police officer this week, was described as a well-liked and well-rounded student-athlete at Reedley High School.

Carrasco, the son of farmworkers, graduated from Reedley High in 2016.

He joined Selma Police Department’s force in 2021 and was killed while responding to a community member’s request to speak to a man standing in the front yard of a home on Pine Street on Tuesday morning. Carrasco was shot and died a short time later at Community Regional Medical Center.

His former basketball coach, Darren Minami, is now Reedley High School’s athletic director.

“For me — it sounds like a cliché sometimes — but he truly was a great kid,” Minami said. “When I think about Gonzalo, I think about his smile and laugh.”

Minami fondly recalled the times Carrasco and his friends used to hang out in his classroom during the off-season.

“For him to choose a career of service,” he said, “he acted that way even in high school when he was young. He was an unselfish basketball player, always there for his friends, and those were some of the things I got to see.”

Carrasco later attended College of the Sequoias and was a 2020 graduate of the Tulare-Kings Counties Police Academy before being hired by Selma Police Department, according to an email statement from the college.

“The College of the Sequoias in conjunction with the Tulare-Kings Counties Police Academy is heartbroken over the tragic and senseless killing of Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr.,” the institution stated. “Our collective thoughts and prayers are with his family and the Selma Police Department at this time.”

This story was originally published February 2, 2023 at 10:07 AM.

Laura S. Diaz

The Fresno Bee

Laura S. Diaz is the engagement reporter for The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab. She previously was The Bee’s COLAB Latino communities reporter. Before working in Fresno, Laura covered social justice, local government and accountability issues for The Stockton Record, and began her career working for CBS News and the Associated Press Elections Center in New York City. She grew up in Mexico and graduated from New York University with a B.S. in media communications and journalism.