UPDATE: Atlanta City Council approved the name at their June 17 meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY: An Atlanta community garden could soon be named after a rookie DeKalb County police officer Edgar Isidro Flores killed in the line of duty late last year.
Flores was killed while chasing a man who ran from a traffic stop on Candler Road near I-20 on Dec. 13. He was shot multiple times. At the time, Flores was engaged and days away from celebrating his 25th birthday.
The city’s community development committee approved the name Tuesday. It will be voted on by the Atlanta City Council on Monday.
The community garden is located at Sara J. Gonzalez Memorial Park in northwest Atlanta. It is the first park named for a Latino in Georgia and honors inclusiveness and cultural diversity.
“Naming the garden after Flores seemed like a natural fit,” said Councilman Dustin Hills, who sponsored the legislation. “It honors another Hispanic hero.”
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The Gonzalez family requested the community garden be named for Flores, “whose actions embodied the spirit of what Ms. Gonzalez stood for, community, service and heritage,” according to the ordinance.
Hillis said Gonzalez’s daughter, Isabel Gonzalez-Whittaker, approached him with the idea shortly after Flores was killed.
Sara Gonzalez lived in Atlanta for more than 30 years and was an advocate for immigrant rights and Hispanic economic growth. She was also founder of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Development and president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Gonzalez died in February 2008.
RELATED| Sara J. Gonzalez Memorial Park
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