Indio police officer to be laid to rest
Funeral services will be held Monday for a young Indio police officer who lost her battle with a rare form of lung cancer. Isabel “Izzy” Velasquez, 26, died May 31 following a “brief but brave battle,” according to the department.
“The entire Indio Police Department is mourning the loss of our sister in blue,” according to the department. “We were shaken to our core to learn of her unexpected passing. Officer Velasquez was a beautiful soul with an infectious smile. Her IPD family will miss her greatly.”
A viewing will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday at Forest Lawn-Indio, 82975 Requa Ave., with a funeral Mass taking place Monday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 45299 Deglet Noor St. A burial will follow at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City.
According to Velasquez’s obituary, she was born in South El Monte, with the family later moving to Indio, where she attended Indio Middle and High School, participating in the cadet corps, softball and music. She later attended College of the Desert and joined the U.S. Army Reserve at 19, where she worked as a logistic specialist.
After six years in the Army Reserve and time as a public safety officer at Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino, she “fulfilled her dream” of becoming a police officer and was hired by the department on July 7, 2016.
Velasquez’s family created a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral costs, which quickly exceeded its $7,500 goal, but some of the excess donations were also used to have Velasquez memorialized with a billboard that was erected this week on eastbound Interstate 10, near Jefferson Street.
Velasquez is survived by “her parents, Alejandro Velasquez Sr., and Mercedes Garibay, her siblings, Alejandro Velasquez, Jr., and Esther Velasquez, nieces and nephews, her beloved Leah, her longest love Flex and her extended family in California, Peru and Mexico.”
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