It was just a month ago Colorado bid farewell to yet another fallen hero in law enforcement who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Andrew Peery, a SWAT officer with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, was responding to a reported shooting in the Security/Widefield area just south of Colorado Springs on Aug. 7 — and wound up giving his life.

This past weekend, it was a young Arvada police officer who gave all — the second cop to do so in the past two years in the northwest metro Denver suburb. Officer Dillon Vakoff, 27, had served his country and community throughout his life, as The Gazette reported Sunday.

Vakoff joined the Air Force after graduating from Arvada’s Ralston Valley High School in 2012. He spent six years in the service and earned the rank of staff sergeant. In 2019, he joined the Arvada Police Department and was training to become a SWAT officer.

On Sunday, Vakoff and other officers responded to what police have said was a large and chaotic family disturbance outdoors. The officers who arrived at the scene tried to separate “belligerent and uncooperative individuals,” police said. Then, someone opened fire. One woman on the scene was shot in addition to Vakoff. In the exchange of gunfire, the person believed to have fired at Vakoff also was shot. He was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive. The wounded woman also was expected to survive. 

On Monday, Arvada police arrested Sonny Thomas Almanza, 31, of Arvada, on suspicion of shooting Vakoff. Almanza was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder of a peace officer with extreme indifference; murder after deliberation; illegal possession of a weapon by a previous offender; child abuse, and other counts.

The public, meanwhile, is mourning Vakoff.

“He was an example of everything good about a police officer,” Arvada Police Chief Link Strate told reporters Sunday morning at a news conference. “His service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

There was an outpouring of grief, sympathy, support and prayers on social media. A post from the Arvada Police Department took note of more than 700 comments.

Just last year in June, Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley was killed while responding to a shooter in the city’s Olde Town in June 2021.

This past May members of law enforcement and others gathered at the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial in Golden to recognize 17 fallen law officers. Nine had been killed in the line of duty in 2021 alone. They included Beesley Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, who was killed last year in March as he intervened in a mass shooting at a Boulder grocery store.

Since then, Andrew Peery and now Dillon Vakoff have joined them.

It is a terrible tally as well as a grim and heart-rending reminder of the debt of gratitude we all owe Colorado’s law officers. We can take comfort knowing that thousands of law officers across Colorado are on the job watching out for us as we go about our daily lives.

Our prayers and condolences go out to Vakoff’s loved ones. We are grateful for all the law officers across Colorado who serve valiantly as Vakoff did, ever ready to risk their lives to protect us all. Those who wish to make donations in honor of Vakoff can do so through the Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board