Co-Cathedral hosts overflowing funeral Mass honoring young sheriff’s deputy

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez gives a folded flag to Deputy Fernando Esqueda’s mother, Catalina Guerrero, as Esqueda’s wife, Emily S. Guerra, an officer with the Pasadena Police Department, looks on. Deputy Esqueda died July 11 in the line of duty. (Photo courtesy of the Harris County Sheriffs Office)HOUSTON — More than 1,200 family, friends and law enforcement from across the state and from Chicago, Boston, New York and Los Angeles paid their respects to a young Harris County Sheriff’s deputy slain in the line of duty. 

Deputy Fernando Esqueda, 28, was honored at his funeral Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston July 19 with bugle “Taps,” a trio of helicopters flyover and a 21-gun salute that reverberated through downtown.

Despite being so young, Esqueda worked in law enforcement starting as a state prison guard at 18 in Huntsville, becoming a certified peace officer at 21, and promoted at 28 to an elite squad with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office assigned with hunting down violent criminals, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the crowd. 

“Fernando Esqueda had the heart of a lion,” Gonzalez said. 

Esqueda was recently married civilly to Emily Guerra, an officer with the Pasadena Police Department. They were in the midst of marriage preparation to wed at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church (OLG) in Houston in September. 

“I met with them both twice, and they were full of hope and joy and love,” said Father George Mordalski, SCJ, parochial vicar at OLG, in his homily. 

Esqueda died July 11 during a manhunt for a suspect accused of pistol-whipping a Little Caesars store manager.

Two men, including the man accused in the assault, were arrested and charged with capital murder in connection to the deputy’s death. The men are accused of ambushing Esqueda, shooting him multiple times as he sat in a truck undercover, calling for backup.  

When the men were arrested, they were both placed in Esqueda’s handcuffs, Gonzalez said.  
His obituary and funeral worship aid had a portion of Esqueda’s writing about his lifelong passion for law enforcement. “After one year of being employed with Precinct 6, I lateraled over to the Sheriff’s Office where I plan on spending the rest of my career and, if the Lord allows it, retire!”