It is a sad, sad, day for the Bomberos de Langley Park. Pedro 'Horsehead' Martinez, the Ambassador to Langley Park, was found dead in the early hours of the morning. For those of you who are not familiar, Horsehead has a lower ID number than everyone in the 34 bunkroom and has responded to almost every shooting, stabbing, and trauma that has occured in the Park for as long as anyone can remember. It was not an uncommon sight for the Bomberos to show up on a call and see Horsehead standing in the parking lot saying "AMIGO. ONE PERSON. STAB. I HAVE INFORMATION. OFFICER ORTEGA!"

Horsehead has been hanging around the park for over 20 years. According to generally accepted folklore, he was a paratrooper in the Mexican army before coming to Langley Park in search of the American Dream. Unfortunately, instead of finding the American Dream, he found the Tick Tock Liquor store, and remained in the immediate area for the rest of his days. He quickly gained respect amongst the locals and the live-ins, and ended up becoming the Mayor of Langley Park in relatively short order. Even after getting hit by a car and needing to use a walker to get around, he still made it a point to give the Bomberos a strong salute as we drove by from medic local to medic local.

Horsehead will be sorely missed by locals and Bomberos alike. Langley Park has never had a better ambassador, informant, mayor, paratrooper, firehouse live-in (sort of), chronic drunk, and most of all, friend. The Park has long been referred to as "A place to escape to...a place to escape from." That motto couldn't be more true for our departed friend. Enjoy the Tick Tock in the sky, amigo.

I've attached as many pictures as I can find of our lost compadre. If anyone has any additional photos, I will make sure to post them as they come in.