FanStory.com - Robert Buitragoby Douglas Goff

In 1991, I was deployed to the Republic of Panama. While hanging out at a club with several of my US Marine buddies, a good friend named Robert Buitrago introduced me to a woman.

Buitrago was a Marine’s Marine, meaning he was hardcore and gung-ho all the way. In the two years that I served with him, I don’t believe I heard him complain even once.

It is important to understand that we were an infantry unit, engaged in jungle activities in a rainforest. We were constantly fighting with howler monkeys, killer bees, Navy Seals (playing the role of our adversaries), and torrential downpours.

Robert Buitrago was a mechanic assigned to our unit. Infantrymen are notorious for figuring out ways to complain. If they brought lobster and steak out to us in the field, some would complain that we had plastic silverware. In Panama, some of the grunts in my squad complained like they were on their deathbeds, but never a peep out of Buitrago. He was just plain tough.

I was discharged from the military about a year later, with Buitrago exiting a year after me. He had dreams of becoming a police officer as he was dedicated to living a life of service. Buitrago earned a spot on the Winston-Salem Police Department and by all accounts, was very proud of the position.

On Saturday, January 15th, 1994, at approximately 9:30 PM, while off-duty, Buitrago went into a Food Lion grocery store. Inside, he found an armed man who was roughing up a female clerk during a robbery. Buitrago was unarmed and out of uniform when he encountered the gunman, who was a three time convicted felon named Thomas Larry.

There are varying reports of what occurred, but it appears Buitrago chased the robber out of the store and found him trying to take a car from a woman. In the ensuing conflict, Buitrago hit the felon Larry over the head with a wine bottle. Larry responded by shooting my friend in the chest. Rookie Officer Robert Buitrago died at the age of 23 after only 6 months on duty.

The Felon Larry was 37. He had spent 15 of his 19 adult years in prison. He had committed a previously unsolved armed robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken less than two weeks earlier.

Thomas Larry had received a 10 year sentence for his last armed robbery and should have been in prison from 1992 to 2002. Instead, they released him on parole after serving only nine months of his sentence. Six months later, when he should have still been in prison, he killed Officer Robert Buitrago. After he shot and killed Buitrago, Larry was apprehended and received a death sentence and is still sitting on death row.

Captain Frank Holman of the Winston-Salem Police Department said, “It's impossible to know what Buitrago, 23, was thinking when he went unarmed after an armed man. This is not the way we instruct them.”¹

I know why Buitrago went after Larry. It was because he believed in the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. He was filled with the US Marine Corps fighting spirit and was faithful to defending the public.

So why pay tribute to a mostly forgotten police officer who died nearly thirty years ago? I have three reasons; Alexis, Cierra, and Celeste.

You see, that woman Buitrago introduced me to all those years ago ended up being my wife of seventeen years. The marriage resulted in the births of my three above-mentioned daughters.

The oldest daughter currently serves in the MDOC as a prison guard. I can’t help but think that without Roberto Buitrago, those three girls would have never been born. That’s why I like to think of Buitrago as their godfather and am paying tribute to this incredible man who spent his five short adult years serving the American people. Rest in peace brother and Semper Fidelis!

(¹ BERNIE WOODALL Staff Writer Jan 17, 1994 Updated Jan 25, 2015 Winston Salem News and Record)