School officer dies

Memorial services for Steve Cabrera, a Gardnerville resident for the past five years, will be at 10 a.m. at Walton's Chapel of the Valley in Carson City.

Cabrera, an attendance and security officer at Incline High School for many years, died Monday evening, an apparent victim of his own hand.

Douglas County coroner Kathy Tadich confirmed Cabrera died sometime Monday evening, but wouldn't provide details of his death.

However, a source at Incline High School who knew Cabrera confirmed it was a suicide and was probably connected with an impending divorce. The source said Cabrera had been served with divorce papers recently, and, although he appeared depressed about it Monday afternoon, did not seem suicidal.

Washoe County Sheriff's Office reports indicate that deputies checked a potentially suicidal subject on Monday afternoon at the high school at the request of the Douglas County Sheriff Department but would not confirm that Cabrera was the subject.

Cabrera came to national attention in August 2000 when an irrationally behaving passenger on a commercial flight died in unexplained circumstances after several other passengers, including Cabrera, restrained him.

Cabrera was pursuing a lawsuit against carrier Southwest Airlines in U.S. District Court for negligence in the matter. The suit was expected to have its finished pretrial work early next year.

Cabrera was the former personal bodyguard of the Washington state governor and a former gang expert with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.

He leaves behind his wife Gerrie of seven years and a son, Wyatt.