Commerce City Workers Go Above and Beyond, Save Bystander’s Life After Shooting
Jairo Aguayo and Roberto Montes Garcia, both parks operations specialists for Commerce City and members of Local 1144, were working to fix a leak in the irrigation system at Pioneer Park. While looking for isolation valves to stop the leak, they heard a couple of people arguing nearby.
Thinking nothing of it, Aguayo and Montes Garcia continued looking for the valves. But things quickly escalated when they heard gunshots only 20 feet away from where they were standing. The two city workers crouched down and quickly moved away as Aguayo called 911.
"As we were walking away, I was on the 911 call, we saw the suspect running,” recalls Aguayo. “As he was running, I was describing him, telling the 911 operator where he was running to. And as soon as the operator asked us if we could tell if there were injured people... that's when we saw the car and some people were freaking out.” People had gathered around a nearby car where a bystander had been shot in the crossfire. Seeing that nobody had moved to help the bystander, the two city workers got to work.
"We weren't panicked,” says Aguayo, “but you can feel that adrenaline rush because of everything that had just happened. But somehow we were calm, just trying to do what we knew we had to do and what we were taught." Both had received training on how to aid shooting victims as part of their job, a skillset which proved vital as they acted quickly to apply pressure to the wound and stop the bleeding.
"I know we made a difference because we did help her out,” he says. “If we were not there, she could have probably bled out or something else... Everyone else was standing there asking 'what should we do, what should we do', so we just stepped in."
In recognition of their quick thinking and selfless actions, both Aguayo and Montes Garcia received a commendation from the City Council of Commerce City, noting that “[their] response reflects the very best of public service, and they were truly heroes that day.”
A 13 year employee of the city, Aguayo is no stranger to putting the needs, both big and small, of his community first. "In everything I do, I put myself in the position of one of the park users. I think ‘what would I enjoy if I was here.’ And that's where a lot of that pride comes from, I want to make sure everything is pretty much perfect.”
On a normal day, that work includes tending to the park’s irrigation system and prepping ballfields for community members to use. Much of his love for his work comes from seeing others enjoying the park. “It's seeing park users out there enjoying the park, having fun, seeing the smile on their face when they come to a clean park and use our facilities, and seeing the joy they have."
As for saving a woman’s life in the middle of a crisis, Aguayo says, “I could say were doing our job, helping people out... but it feels above that... It feels like it was our job to be there, but it feels good to be there just to help out."