# Officer George Cortez Jr. Phoenix, Arizona



## Inspector

Police Officer George Cortez Jr.
*Phoenix Police Department
Arizona*
End of Watch: Friday, July 27, 2007
Biographical Info
*Age:* 23
*Tour of Duty:* 2 years
*Badge Number:* 8232
Incident Details
*Cause of Death:* Gunfire
*Date of Incident:* Friday, July 27, 2007
*Weapon Used*: Gun; Unknown type
*Suspect Info:* In custody
Officer George Cortez was shot and killed after responding to a cash-checking store to investigate reports of a forgery-in-progress.

At approximately 2030 hours, Officer Cortez responded to a call that a man and woman were passing forged checks at a check-cashing business on West 83rd Avenue, near Encanto Boulevard. Officer Cortez entered the business and was placing the male suspect in handcuffs when he drew a gun and shot Officer Cortez several times.

Officer Cortez was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital where he died from his injuries.

The suspects fled the scene. The suspects fled the scene, but were apprehended the next day. They were charged with capital first-degree murder, burglary and forgery.

Officer Cortez had served with the Phoenix Police Department for two years. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and parents.


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## kwflatbed

*Slain Ariz. officer's family remembers loving father*

By Dianna M. Náñez
The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX, Arix. - The widow of fallen Phoenix police Officer George Cortez Jr. said she told her sons Saturday, one day after their father was shot and killed in the line of duty, that they have a new angel watching over them from heaven. 
"I told them, 'Daddy's in heaven, now you have a special angel and that angel is Daddy,' " said Tiffany, his high school sweetheart and wife of three years. 
"I said we're not going to be able to see Daddy, but we can talk to him every night when we say our prayers. He's going to be watching over us and protecting us," she said. 
Cortez, 23, was shot while attempting to arrest Edward James Rose, 20, for trying to cash a bad check at Southwest Check Cashing near 83rd Avenue and Encanto Boulevard, authorities said. A clerk at the store had called 911 after verifying that the check Rose presented was stolen. 
Cortez arrived at the store about 8:30 p.m. According to police reports contained within court records, Cortez had one handcuff on Rose when Rose took out a gun and shot the officer at least once in the face and once in the shoulder.
Rose and his girlfriend, Norma Lisa Lopez, 19, who according to police reports was with Rose at the time of the attempted forgery, fled the store after the shooting, authorities said. Cortez was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, in Phoenix, where he was later pronounced dead. 
Authorities arrested Rose and Lopez at 5:30 a.m. Saturday in the West Valley. They were each booked into the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail on counts of first-degree murder, burglary and forgery. 
Cortez is the first Phoenix police officer killed in the line of duty since November 2005. Born in Phoenix and raised in Peoria, Cortez played football for four years at Centennial High School, where he graduated in 2002. 
*'My special daddy angel'* 
Cortez and Tiffany met their junior year at Centennial and became high school sweethearts. They had a Christmas wedding on Dec. 27, 2003. 
Tiffany said Sunday that since her husband was slain, she and her sons Koltan, 4, and Gunner, 2, have been staying at her parents' house in Peoria. The home, she said, is buzzing with family and friends who are comforting each other with memories of Cortez. 
"We called each other mama bear and papa bear and the boys were our baby bears," said Tiffany as she knelt before a box of family photos strewn across a living room floor that has become the boys' playground.
Gunner and Koltan ran to their mother's side to see pictures of daddy.
"This is my special daddy angel," said Gunner as he kissed a photo of his father.
*'I miss him so much'* 
George Cortez was Ellen Cortez's only child. Ellen, 40, said she raised George as a single mother with the help of her parents.
"He was a good little boy. He loved football, motorcycles and Teenage Ninja Turtles," she said. "I miss him so much. He had the most beautiful smile. George was always laughing . . . always telling jokes."
Ellen said she does not know how she would survive the loss without her grandchildren.
"They're my blessing," she said. "If it wasn't for them, I'd have nothing."
Cortez lived out his love of football for four years in defensive line and fullback positions for Centennial High.
Jon Cavello, 23, said he met Cortez while playing football during his high school.
"George was my best friend," he said. "I loved him."
The families got even closer, Cavello said, after Cortez and Tiffany moved into a house across the street from his family's house in Surprise. Summer nights were spent at each other's homes playing with the Cavellos' 15-month-old daughter and Cortez's boys, Cavello said.
"George was such a great dad. He took his boys everywhere. When Tiffany was working, he'd take them to play ball, swimming, to Peter Piper Pizza," he said. "I don't want them to miss any of that. I'm going to take them to do everything their dad did. George would do that for me."
*'So many plans'* 
Tiffany said even though she and Cortez were only 16 when they met, they knew they would be together a lifetime.
"He had the most beautiful eyes and smile," she said. "I brought him to meet my parents and they fell in love with him, too. My dad is a captain with the (Maricopa County) Sheriff's Office. . . . George looked at him like a father. He wanted to be just like him."
Tiffany's dad, Tom Tyo, is a 27-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department. Tyo said he could not believe the news when he was told George had been killed in the line of duty.
"I'd thought of this happening to me before. But never, never George; he was so young," Tyo said, choking back tears. "The kids had so many plans. He loved Tiffany and the boys so much. He was going to take an extra shift so Tiff could go back to school and not have to work."
*A great father* 
Tiffany said she was busy getting their sons ready for bed when she heard an evening news report that an officer from her husband's Maryvale precinct had been shot.
"I started crying," she said. "I called our friend Tony (a fellow Phoenix police officer). He called me back and told me it was George and he'd been shot, he was at the hospital."
Tiffany said she arrived at the St. Joseph's hospital to find a room full of officers.
"I was crying. I started screaming, 'Where is he? Is he alive?' " she said. "The doctor started crying."
Cortez had already been pronounced dead. Tiffany said she asked to be taken to her husband.
"I just laid there on his body," she said. "I just kissed him all over, just the smell of him. I just wanted to take him home.
It was the hardest thing to leave the hospital, I felt like I was abandoning him." 
Tiffany said she wants people to remember Cortez as a great husband, son, friend, officer and most of all a great dad.
"He loved his boys. I called him Mr. Mom," she said. "His world revolved around me and our family. I will never fall in love with anybody again. I will never love anyone like I love George." 










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