Slain sheriff’s deputy embraced life, realized dream of patrolling Rancho Cucamonga

Sobs. Deep breaths. Tears.

Mourners exhibiting their depth of feeling struggled at times to pay tribute during the funeral service on Tuesday, Nov. 18, for San Bernardino County sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Nunez, who was slain as he arrived at a home in Rancho Cucamonga on Oct. 27 in an attempt to rescue a woman who authorities say was being forced into a car at gunpoint by her ex-husband.

Nunez, 28, had been a deputy for six years when a man identified as Angelo Jose Saldivar hid behind a building and fired a single shot when Nunez got out of his patrol car on Hollyhock Drive. Saldivar fled on a motorcycle and was arrested after a deputy used his car to knock over Saldivar’s bike as it sped away on the 210 Freeway in Upland. Saldivar has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted kidnapping and other charges.

“There was a victim in distress, and Andrew got to her as soon as possible,” sheriff’s Capt. Mike Smith, who was Nunez’s commander at the Rancho Cucamonga station, said at the Toyota Arena in Ontario. “He ran toward danger to protect a victim he did not know. His life was taken by the senseless act of a coward.”

Nunez is survived by his wife, 2-year-old daughter and an unborn daughter.

The stage was adorned with photographs and flowers. An honor guard stood watch beside the casket draped with an American flag.

Nunez’s mother, Yolanda, described her son as having strong convictions, fearless, impulsive, “stubborn at times, yes … ready to embrace life with both hands. He always looked out for me, that I was loved, that I was OK.”

A supporter rubbed Nunez’s arm as she spoke through her tears.

“He loved praying. He loved playing golf …

“I can’t … Nunez said, unable to continue.

The supporter took over Nunez’s eulogy.

“I will forever carry the honor of having loved him and the even bigger honor of having been loved by him,” she said.

Nunez’s wife, Roxana, wore dark glasses as she spoke inside the 11,000-seat arena that hosted law enforcement officers from Southern California and beyond.

“He was an incredible father and loving partner,” she said. “He was ambitious and fearless, always pushing himself. But he had the softest heart when it came to our family.”

She inhaled deeply.

“He was proud to stand beside all of you,” Nunez’s wife said. “He made things lighter, he made things better. And if he were here now, he’d be laughing at us for crying. … I love you, baby.”

Andrew Nunez grew up without a strong father figure in his life, Roxana Nunez said, so as the eldest child in the family, he pushed his four siblings to “never give up and be strong. As he got older, he learned to step back a bit, but he never truly left. He was always there on the sideline, ready to help.”

When it came to sports, Nunez was rarely on the sideline. He played football, basketball and soccer, and he was a member of the football team at Los Osos High in Rancho Cucamonga, Deputy Chief Ernie Perez said. And Nunez was a fan of the Lakers and Dodgers.

“Especially the Dodgers,” Perez said.

Nunez dreamed early on of becoming a sheriff’s deputy and patrolling Rancho Cucamonga, where he attended church at the time of his death. He told anybody who’d listen, including co-workers at a cellular company.

“Andrew’s friend told me he talked too much to customers and he talked himself right out of sales,” Capt. Smith said, adding that Nunez made sure to tell his bosses when he exceeded sales goals.

Nunez graduated from the sheriff’s academy in September 2019 and worked in the jails and in transportation before getting the call to realize his dream by reporting to the Rancho Cucamonga station for patrol duty almost three years ago. Most recently, he was assigned to the theft detail at Victoria Gardens, where he kept his partners entertained with his witticisms and good-natured sarcasm, Smith said.

Nunez was training harder and eating healthier foods as he sought a coveted position on the SWAT team.

“I have no doubt you were going to be a member of the SWAT team,” Smith said.

Sheriff Shannon Dicus remembered Nunez as “a servant, a guardian and a protector.”

“To Andrew, it didn’t matter that they were strangers. What mattered was that it was his duty as a peace officer and most of all, it was his duty to his lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He established a legacy of service that will echo far beyond this moment in the hearts of everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.”

A colleague and friend, Sgt. David Rayenhartz, said he would counsel Nunez on how to improve his work, and he did. Rayenhartz exhorted Nunez to exceed the sergeant’s accomplishments and said Nunez did, as a father, husband and cop.

Rayenhartz paused a few times to compose himself.

“He was simply Andrew … he was like a son,” Rayenhartz said.

Toward the end of the two-hour ceremony, a video showed images of Nunez with family and friends at various stages of his life. It concluded with his eldest daughter pulling a photo of her father, in his deputy’s uniform, off a table. She placed it on the floor and kissed it.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed.