CHICAGO — As a police officer, Alex Valadez had the backs of his fellow officers. Now, in his absence, those officers will have his back.
Supt. Eddie Johnson and a group of Chicago Police officers will stand in for Valadez at his son's kindergarten graduation Friday, the department announced in a news release Thursday.
Valadez, 27, was killed in the line of duty in 2009 while working on a report of shots fired in West Englewood. He was fatally shot three months before his son, Alex, Jr., was born, according to the department.
Valadez and his partner were searching a vacant lot near 61st and Hermitage for evidence, possibly guns or shell casings, when he was cut down by gangbangers bent on revenge, authorities said.
As Valadez was asking a man passing by whether he'd heard any shots, a car with three armed men came toward them, Alvarez said. A man stuck a .357 revolver out the rear passenger window and opened fire, striking Valadez in the head and leg, authorities said.
Three men were charged and convicted of killing the officer and are serving life sentences.
Valadez's son will graduate at a East Side church Friday morning, where Johnson and a "delegation" from the department will be on hand in honor of their fellow officer.
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