Portraits of fallen Honolulu police officers are on the way, Philadelphia artist says
COURTESY JONNY CASTRO
Philadelphia artist Jonny Castro, who has done more than 500 portraits of heroes killed in the line of duty, has completed portraits of fallen Honolulu police officers Tiffany Enriquez, left, and Kaulike Kalama.
A Philadelphia forensic composite artist has completed portraits of fallen officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama in the wake of Sunday’s tragedy.
Both officers were shot and killed while responding to a report of an assault at 3015 Hibiscus in a Diamond Head neighborhood Sunday morning.
Upon hearing of their deaths, Jonny Castro, who has done more than 500 portraits of heroes killed in the line of duty, began to work on ones of Enriquez and Kalama.
Castro said the portraits have already been printed and shipped off in the mail, and are on their way to the Honolulu Police Department. He does it all for free, including shipping fees, as a way to honor them.
“I feel like it needs to be done,” Castro told the Star-Advertiser. “You know, it’s just a way to tell these officers’ stories, and then it’s just a way to give these paintings to their family.”
Castro posted the portraits on his Facebook page on Monday, along with a brief description of what happened, and both officers’ biographies.
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Each took about eight hours to complete, he said. He decided that both should be adorned with lei because they are from Hawaii.
Castro also completed a portrait of fallen Hawaii island police officer Bronson Kaliloa, with a lei. Kaliloa was gunned down during a traffic stop in Mountain View in July 2018.
Castro, who is himself a U.S. Army combat veteran, does digitally hand-drawn portraits of police officers and military service members killed in the line of duty, including a Belgian Malinois assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol. He does them all on his own time while working for the Philadelphia Police Department.
“Police Officers risk their lives every single day to protect the citizens of this country,” he wrote in his Facebook bio. “They go out and do a thankless job because, believe it or not, they want to make a difference. They laugh. They cry. They have families. They have hobbies. They are human beings just like every one else. The reason behind painting portraits of these fallen heroes is to try and share who these officers were in life before they were taken from us.”
