Officials in San Francisco mourn the unexpected death of a city police officer

San Francisco leaders this week mourned the unexpected death of a young police officer whom many had described as hardworking and deeply committed to public safety.

Luciano Ortega served in the department for nine years and most recently worked in Mission Station, where officers cover a dense area bounded by SoMa, Cesar Chavez Street, the Bayshore Freeway and the neighborhoods east of Twin Peaks.

Ministry officials announced his death on Sunday without providing a cause of death.

“He is exactly the kind of police officer every San Francisco resident would want for our city,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a former police department spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “He came from a family of police officers and fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a police officer. By all accounts, he was well-liked in the community.”

Born in San Francisco to parents who also worked as first responders, Ortega said he was drawn to police from a young age — an attraction he described in a biographical video police posted on social media two years ago.

“For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a police officer,” Ortega said, smiling earnestly at the camera. The video cut to old family portraits and Polaroid photos of the officer as a child, as Ortega recalled stories of his parents rushing to emergencies.

“For me, it was the closest thing to portraying real superheroes,” Ortega said.

When the then aspiring police officer was five years old, his father asked him to paint a picture that would represent what he wanted to be when he grew up. Ortega painted a San Francisco police car with a red light on the roof and a bright orange sun in the sky, and kept the image into adulthood to feature in the video.

Mayor London Breed sent her condolences to Ortega’s family in a post on social media site X and praised Ortega’s “deep commitment to public service.”

“He truly made San Francisco a better place through his work and his life,” Breed said, “and we will miss him very much. Rest in peace.”

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