A 21-gun salute echoed into the sky near the Denver County Jail on Tuesday, honoring the seven Denver Sheriff Department (DSD) deputies who have passed away while employed by the office. 

“The awful cost of freedom,” Armando Saldate III, Denver’s director of public safety, said during the annual ceremony. “We wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for folks who courageously sacrificed, took time away from their families and loved ones that are here, and literally put their lives on the line for folks that they don’t know and for our community to keep us safe.” 

The department holds the ceremony every spring, positioned next to the memorial outside of the Denver County Jail, with each name etched into the stone.

Since the department was founded in 1902, only seven deputies have passed away while either in the line of duty or while employed by the department. The newest names were added in 2021.

Both of the names added in 2021 — James Herrera and Daniel “Duke” Trujillo — passed away due to complications from the COVID-19 virus.

“We come just to know that they acknowledge him. Everyone knows what he did and why he did it. The sacrifice,” Paul Martinez, father of Daniel Trujillo, said, clearly emotional behind sunglasses. 

“DSD has been very supportive,” Renee Martinez, Trujillo’s mother, said. “The community as a whole have all been a very supportive family.”

“It’s nice that they remember,” Irene Stillwell, wife of Daniel Stillwell, who was shot and killed by an inmate in a hospital in 1987, said. “It’s a good thing to never forget.”

Stillwell noted that even nearly 40 years later, the annual ceremony still brings about both sadness and pride.  

Deputies from DSD hung the names of the fallen onto the department’s flag as the families looked on. 

“The best way that we can honor the memory of the fallen is how we show up for work,” Saldate III said. “[The current deputies] honor the fallen by their service, by their sacrifice.”

The seven deputies honored during the ceremony were:

• Edward Baird – March 16, 1906
• John Osborne – Aug. 9, 1974
• Edward Martinez – Nov. 15, 1980
• Daniel Stillwell – Sept. 6, 1987
• Norman Silva II – Feb. 3, 1993
• James Herrera – May 16, 2021
• Daniel Trujillo – May 26, 2021