Jesus "Jesse" Sanchez

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — Sacramento, CA

Felonious

End of Watch October 6, 1972

Age 24

Tour of Duty 5 mo

The Vigil Panel 110 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 41

Incident

Correctional Officer Jesse Sanchez was shot and killed, and another officer was shot and wounded in an ambush by two men who were attempting to free a prisoner. He and another officer had just left the California Institution for Men at Chino with the prisoner when two cars pulled alongside their prison van and forced them off the road on Edison Avenue near Euclid Avenue. An occupant from each car, with guns drawn, handcuffed Officer Sanchez and the other officer and then shot them both. Officer Sanchez was killed, and the other officer was wounded. The other officer faked being dead as the ambushers drove away with their prisoner. Later, the two cars were found abandoned in a parking lot north of Riverside Drive. The liberated prisoner, 35, was being transported to a court hearing in San Bernardino for escape. He had been sentenced to prison for attempted robbery in January of 1969. He and another inmate escaped in November 1970. They were later returned to California and charged with kidnapping and escape. He had been convicted of kidnapping a few weeks before the ambush. Two weeks later, a man, 30, and a girl, 18, surrendered to FBI agents at Menlo Park. They said they were in one of the two cars but never got out. Both were charged with murder and the freeing of a prisoner by violent means. They provided the names of the killers: a man, 23, and a woman, 44. On December 11, 1972, the woman they named and the liberated prisoner were captured on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Police found a sawed-off shotgun, two loaded pistols, two grenades, and an M-1 Rifle in their car. Both were charged with the murder of Officer Sanchez and the attempted murder of the other officer. On December 18, 1972, the fourth suspect was apprehended in Palo Alto. All five were members of the Verceremos Revolutionary Organization, a far-left political group that existed in Palo Alto from 1969 to 1973. On December 27, 1972, the liberated prisoner was convicted of first-degree murder and had

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Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Correctional Officer Sanchez served with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Thank you for your service to the people of California. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Correctional Officer Sanchez.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Location Sacramento, CA

Platform Identity cdcrcorr.sacramento.ca.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 6, 1972

Tour of Duty 5 mo

Age 24

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Gun; Unknown type

Offender Convicted of murder

Correctional Officer Jesus "Jesse" Sanchez is one of 17,623 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 54.2% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In CA, 974 of 1,837 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 53% of this state's fallen. That is 1.2 percentage points below the national rate of 54.2%.

At California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 30 of 42 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 71.4% of this agency's fallen.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

of 42 officers

71.4% Felonious

CA — Statewide

974

of 1,837 officers

53% Felonious

Nationwide

17,623

of 32,508 officers

54.2% Felonious