Forensic artist helps families of fallen officers grieve though his artwork

Police Officer Helps Families of Fallen Heroes In Artistic Way

His art usually helps put alleged criminals behind bars, or put a face to a name. But a police officer and forensic artist is using his talents to help ease the pain of the family members of first responders who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Johnny Castro, who is a retired military police officer, has loved to draw for a long time, telling CNN that he learned a lot from his father when it came to creating portraits.

A year and a half ago, during his spare time, Castro began to draw and digitally paint portraits of police officers who were killed protecting their cities, not just in the U.S., but in places all around the world, CNN reported.

He includes in the portraits the accolades that the first responders earned posthumously.

Castro has created more than 100 portraits, CNN reported.

Sometimes he’ll work on two or three portraits a week.

He sends copies to the family members of the fallen, but also adds the portraits to his personal wall of heroes, which includes all of the portraits he has created.

Jonny Castro painted this portrait of Police Officer Frank Seibert IV, an officer with the Philadelphia Police Department.

Credit: Photo courtesy: Jonny Castro Art/Facebook

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Credit: Photo courtesy: Jonny Castro Art/Facebook