Saturday marks 18 years since Deputy Hagop “Jake” Kuredjian paid the ultimate price while serving and protecting the residents of the Santa Clarita Valley.
Kuredjian was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to reports of “shots fired” in Stevenson Ranch, where agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were serving a search warrant, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials.
From midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials will stand watch at the monument dedicated to Kuredjian in honor of his sacrifice, according to Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
“Deputies will be there for 24 hours out of respect to Deputy Kuredjian and in remembrance of his service,” Miller said.
The monument, located at the corner of Stevenson Ranch Parkway and Poe Parkway, serves not only as a reminder to the community of Kuredjian’s sacrifice, but also as a way to keep his memory alive.
Kuredjian was a 17-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department and had been assigned to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station since 1995.
“Helping others was something that came naturally to Jake and that was what he was doing at the very moment he was so tragically taken from us all,” said SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Robert Lewis, who personally knew Kuredjian, in a statement from the station. “We mourn his loss, along with the many other people in our community whose lives were touched by Jake.”
