Reserve Deputy Joshua B. Rodriguez

Reserve Deputy Sheriff Joshua B. Rodriguez Jr.
Bexar County Sheriff's Department, TX
Born: August 16, 1944
Cause of Death: Gunfire
End of Watch: Friday, February 02, 1973
Date of Incident: Friday, February 02, 1973
Age: 28
Badge Number: Not Available
Tour of Duty: 2 yr
Suspect Info: Both suspects given a life sentence; one was paroled after 25 years.
Weapon Used: .38-caliber handgun
Buried: Unknown
Location of Name on National and Texas Monuments
NLEOMF: P50 - W5
TPOM: 21, C, 04

Reserve Deputy Joshua Rodriguez and Deputy Vincent "Jerry" Walker were on patrol when they stopped a green van, 1/4 mile south of Huebner Road, on Bandera Road. The deputies requested a license check. Less than ten minutes later, an unidentified person alerted dispatch that the two deputies had been shot. Deputy Rodriguez was found lying by the passenger's door of the patrol vehicle. He had been shot in the head and died at the scene. City police officers stopped a vehicle matching the description and license plate as the one the deputies stopped. Officers found a .38-caliber bullet in a diaper bag in the van. Both deputies were pronounced dead at the scene. Randall Louis Neyman, 20, and Roger Hester, 27, were convicted of capital murder and received life in prison. Hester was paroled after serving only 25 years.

Deputy Rodriguez, 28, was a volunteer deputy on the 4 p.m. to 12 midnight shift and rode with patrol deputies every other Thursday. Joshua Rodriguez was the first Bexar County Reserve Sheriffs Deputy to be killed in the line of duty and had been with the Sheriffs Reserves for two years. He was employed as a supply officer at East Kelly AFB and wanted to become a full time law enforcement officer. Deputy Rodriguez was a 1963 graduate of Harlandale High School in San Antonio. Survivors included his wife, Mrs. Bertha Rodriguez; sons, Jousha B. Rodriguez III and John A. Rodriguez; father Jousha Rodriguez, Sr.; sisters, Mrs. Joe Rodriguez, Mrs. J. Gonzales, Mrs. J. Menchaca, Juliet and Jennifer Rodriguez; and brothers, Johnny J, Joel Robert and Jason Rodriguez. Interment was at Mission Burial Park South. ----source San Antonio Express News and San Antonio light

Reserve Deputy Rodriguez was also a Free Mason.