Santa Cruz County law enforcement remember Sgt. Gutzwiller one year after ambush attack

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) The shooting ambush death of Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller in Ben Lomond rocked the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and the greater community. Now, one year later, his family, his friends and his fellow deputies are still grappling with what happened to the man they knew as genuine, loving and fun.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart still calls that day the worst in his three decades in law enforcement.
"It was a day that no law enforcement leader or coworker wants to go through," said Hart.
The terrifying moments were caught on camera. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies, in full tactical gear, pull active air force member Steven Carrillo out to the street in handcuffs. Just 30 minutes or so earlier, Carrillo allegedly used pipe bombs, guns and loads of ammunition to ambush deputies responding to a call on his weapon-filled van in Ben Lomond.
38-year-old Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller was on of them. Tragically, he never returned to his family that day.
"When you get a phone call that we have an officer down, it was on a weekend so I was at home… I didn't know who the officer was and I raced to the crime scene and found out that Sgt. Gutzwiller had been fatally shot. It was just an awful, awful day," said Hart.
Gutzwiller had been with the sheriff's office since 2006 and soon became a patrol supervisor. The department describes him as a courageous, intelligent and caring man. He left behind a wife, a two-year-old son and was expecting a newborn before he was killed.
"We have a hole in our heart that's never…. you don't get over things like, you learn to work through it and deal with it. But Damon's loss is felt as much today as it was on June 6, 2020," said Hart.
Now, questions remain as to how deeply Carrillo was involved in far right militia groups before this attack. Over the last year, Carrillo has been named in multiple cases across the country involving members of the violent Boogaloo Bois group. Evidence in those cases show he was in close contact with those individuals, even during the Ben Lomond attack.
Carrillo faces multiple charges including murder of an on-duty peace officer. If convicted, he could face life in prison. In a separate federal case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty as Carrillo is believed to have shot and killed a federal officer in Oakland, days before the attack in Ben Lomond.
"Steven Carrillo is a coward. He was hiding in the pushes and he sniped Sergeant Gutzwiller. There's nothing brave, there's nothing patriotic that Carrillo did, he's just now an out-and-out killer who's killed two people, injured others. He's going to get what he's got coming to him," said Hart.
Gutzwiller was not even supposed to be on duty that day; he got called in for overtime. But his sacrifice for the community he loved will live on forever. The sheriff's office is putting up a memorial for Gutzwiller and three other fallen officers at their headquarters, a legacy for the community to remember.
"For people to take a moment and appreciate that a very good person gave up his life serving this community. I think that needs to mean something, I think people need to remember that," said Hart.