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Jesus Sanchez
Agency patch
Correctional Officer

Jesus Sanchez

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — Sacramento, CA
Felonious
United States flag California flag
End of Watch October 6, 1972
Age 24
Tour of Duty 5 mo
The Vigil Panel 110 ›
Gender Male
Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 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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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
Type Corrections
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

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Jesus is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

33,917 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

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Compare against
I

Time

In 1972, 142 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 28th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

Jesus was 24. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Jesus had served 0.4 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

October holds 7.9% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Fridays: 14.3%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was gun, in 22.8% of these deaths.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has 42 officers remembered here, Jesus among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Correctional Officer Jesus Sanchez

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation · End of Watch October 6, 1972

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 4-E

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