A decade of service to the citizens of Seguin came to a close on Sunday, July 20, with the death of Detective Joe L. Carrillo of the Seguin Police Department.
    He died in a San Antonio hospital at the age of 34 after a brief illness.
    A rosary was held Monday evening in the Goetz Memorial Chapel, and funeral Mass was held on Tuesday in Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church with Father Herman Defler officiating.
    All area law enforcement officers, city and county officials and numerous relatives and friends attended to pay their last respects to a man of proven courage and dedication.
    Carrillo earned the admiration and respect of the people of Seguin and even fame in national police magazines during his first year of service with the Seguin Police Department.
    On Sept. 26, 1965 (see note), less than a month after assuming full time downtown patrol duties, Carrillo stopped a vehicle for a headlight violation. 
    The driver, who was later found to be an AWOL soldier from California, was driving a stolen car.  He pulled a 9 mm Belgian Luger and shot Carrillo.
    The bullet passed one half inch below Carrillo's heart, ripping through his chest and out his back.
    Carrillo managed to fire a shot at his assailant and wounded him in the elbow.  He then pulled himself to his fee, radioed for help and gave chase in his patrol car on Court and Miller Avenue.
    According to the account in the Sept. 29, 1965 Gazette:
    "The right handed policeman, wounded and driving at a high rate of speed, was able to fire accurately with his left hand and wound (his assailant) once more in the arm, once in the hand and finally in the head.  The last shot was the fatal one, according to the coroner's report."
    The stolen auto then left the roadway and collided head-on with a car pulled of the roadway at Mill Road and Spur 351.
    Although Carrillo's would-be murderer carried no identification, he did carry narcotics paraphernalia.  And officers traced a string of stolen and abandoned autos back to Fort Polk, La., where the man was identified as AWOL soldier Dennis William Cox.
    In recognition of Carrillo's efforts to fulfill his duties as an officer of the law, Mayor Joe Burges presented him with a check for $2,000, a gift of the people of Seguin.
    This money was to help him pay his medical expenses for the bullet which came within an inch of taking his life but couldn't keep him down.
    Willing donations were quickly collected by the Chamber of Commerce, the Police Department and KWED which launched a one day Joe Carrillo campaign.
    Carrillo's friends and fellow workers with area law enforcement agencies were deeply moved by his sudden death on Sunday.
    "Joe's the type of person you can't help but miss.  I'll never feel that he died because of my memories of how he lived."
    This was the comment of one employee of the Police Department.   Several others who worked closely with Carrillo were apparently too saddened to express their feelings with words.
    Carrillo is survived by his widow, Delia, and two sons, Rodney and Gerald, all of Seguin.
    Also surviving are:  His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jose Carrillo of Seguin; three brothers, Nick Carrillo and Able Carrillo, both of Seguin,  and Jessie Carrillo of Colorado; four sisters, Mrs. Bertha Miranda of Seguin, Mrs. Mary Pierce of Scertz, Mrs. Dora Luera of San Marcos and Miss Jannie Carrillo of Seguin; and also four half brothers, Julian Carrillo, Alex Carrillo, Mike Carrillo and Joe G. Carrillo, All of Seguin.
    Following the rosary on Monday and the funeral Mass on Tuesday, burial was in the Guadalupe Valley Memorial Park under the direction of Goetz Funeral Home.
    Pallbearers all were members of the Seguin Police Department.  They included: Detective Robert Zoboroski, Detective Mark Zoboroski, Captain Leroy Schneider, Lieutenant Walter Lampmann, Patrolman James De La Garza and Patrolman Layne Dietz.
    Honorary  pallbearers were all members of the Seguin Police Department, Mayor Al Loebig and city councilmen and all area law enforcement officers.
Seguin Gazette, July 24, 1965 (see note)
Note: this must be a typo because it shows the article was published July 24, 1965 or the date of the article may be wrong.