ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — Support for the family of fallen Mandeville police captain Vincent Liberto Jr. is pouring into Louisiana from across the nation.
Captain Liberto was killed in the line of duty Friday after a vehicle pursuit ended with gunfire.
More than a thousand miles from Mandeville, a Philadelphia police officer was hard at work this weekend to complete a portrait of captain Liberto.
Officer Jonny Castro works as a forensic sketch artist and started making portraits of fallen officers and military members in 2016.
According to Castro, 89 officers have died in the line of duty in 2019 and he has created portraits for 83 of them. In total, he’s created almost 500 portraits of fallen heroes.
“From what I’m told, their smile and their eyes are how people remember them,” said officer Castro in a FaceTime interview Tuesday. “Apparently I got those down on this one, so that’s good.”
Officer Castro says he completed Liberto’s portrait quickly so it could arrive in Louisiana in time for the memorial service this week.
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“A very good friend of his messaged me almost immediately after it happened,” said Castro. “She worked at the department with him, and she’s been following my page since I started. She couldn’t believe she was asking me to paint a portrait of someone she knew.“
Castro says he focuses on the details to make sure his finished pieces are perfect for the families and the fellow officers of the fallen.
“I really want to make sure the finished product that people will receive is how they'll remember them,” said Castro. “Often they don't have very recent photos of them so to give them something like this in his Captain’s uniform, because he just got promoted is what I strive to do.”
Meanwhile, in Florida, a 10-year-old boy is also paying respects to Captain Liberto.
Zechariah Cartledge is the face of a fundraising group called “Running 4 Heroes.” He runs a mile around his school track carrying the Blue Line Flag every time an officer dies in the line of duty. Since he started, he has run 204 miles for fallen police officers. Cartledge says he hates to hear of officers killed by violence.
“When I get tired I just think about the officers and their families, and then I try to run faster for the families to help them heal faster,” said Cartledge in a phone interview.
View Castro’s artwork here
Learn more about Running 4 Heroes here
RELATED: 'We need to give back something:' Mandeville comes together for fallen officer Vincent Liberto
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