You can kill the man, but you can’t kill what he stood for. — Kim Pastore, founder of The Jorge Pastore Foundation
On a Saturday morning in November 2023, Austin Police Department SWAT Officer Jorge Pastore was shot and killed during a hostage rescue operation. The man who killed him was a heavily armed Islamic extremist wearing body armor, equipped with night vision, rifles, pistols, and bomb-making materials. He had already murdered two family members inside the residence before officers arrived.
Jorge Pastore spent his career preparing for exactly that kind of moment. He started as a firefighter and paramedic in Florida, where he pushed to create tactical medics who could fight fires, save lives, and neutralize threats simultaneously. When bureaucracy stalled that effort, he and his wife Kim relocated to Austin for the opportunities APD’s specialized units could offer. He served on SWAT, CAST SRT, and MetroTac, working to remove drugs, guns, and dangerous people from Austin’s streets.
In a conversation with Trey Lindsey on The Forum, Kim Pastore recounts in detail the night Jorge was killed, the knock on her door, and the chaotic notification process that followed.
The Night of November 10
Jorge had finished a routine patrol shift around midnight. He came home, showered, and went to bed. Shortly after, the SWAT callout came. Kim, long accustomed to middle-of-the-night disruptions, went back to sleep.
Hours later, twelve or thirteen people stood at her front door in two lines: some in class uniforms, some in SWAT gear, some in civilian clothes. Chief Henderson delivered the news. Jorge had been shot and killed.
The call had come in as a stabbing. A woman escaped the home and reported her brother was attacking family members with a knife. Because the status of the remaining two victims was unconfirmed, SWAT treated it as a hostage rescue, meaning they moved fast. When they breached the final locked and barricaded door, the suspect opened fire. Officer John Becker was shot first. Jorge engaged the threat and was killed. The suspect was also killed.
Kim did not see Jorge until Wednesday. He was killed Saturday morning.
Founding the Jorge Pastore Foundation
Four months after Jorge’s death, in March 2024, Kim made the decision to channel the donations, the goodwill, and the community support into something Jorge would have valued above all else: training.
“You can kill the man, but you can’t kill what he stood for,” Kim told Lindsey.
Jorge had spent much of his own money and vacation time pursuing advanced tactical training. He knew the obstacles: budget constraints, outdated leadership, departments allocating as little as $2,400 annually for officer training. Kim built the foundation to eliminate those barriers.
The Jorge Pastore Foundation now provides firearms and rifle instruction, close-quarters battle training, critical incident response courses, and vehicular tactics. Officers whose departments deny training requests can apply for grants directly through the foundation’s website. Kim says she has not yet had to deny a single grant application.
The foundation has put thousands of officers through training, awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, and expanded operations to New Jersey, Nashville, Alabama, Florida, Colorado, and California. Team Wendy recently signed a three-year commitment as title sponsor.
The Humble Warrior Games and Legacy Match
Each year, near Jorge’s end-of-watch date of November 11, the foundation hosts the Humble Warrior Games at Reveille Peak: a 5K team obstacle course with interactive tactical events, shooting stages, activities for families, and a celebration of Jorge’s life and legacy. The 2026 event will be the third annual.
The foundation also launched the Legacy Match, a competitive shooting event exclusively for law enforcement, which held its inaugural event in March to significant turnout.
Defund the Police and Its Consequences in Austin
Kim spoke bluntly about the defund-the-police movement’s impact on Austin. She described how APD canceled four cadet academies, some after candidates had already received job offers. The result: an already understaffed department hemorrhaged capacity. Officers were pulled from specialty units back to patrol. Overtime costs, she said, nearly exceeded the budget cut itself. Response times suffered, and the same residents who had demanded defunding began complaining about police not showing up.
Kim noted that Austin’s police budget reduction was, by percentage, the largest in the country. She credited Governor Greg Abbott’s intervention, sending DPS troopers to fill the gap and signing legislation imposing financial consequences on cities that defund their police, with preventing further deterioration.
She also pointed out that Austin’s mayor at the time was protected by armed APD executive protection while living behind a gate, calling the contradiction “insanity.”
Line-of-Duty Death Notification Reform
Kim now travels the country speaking on best practices for line-of-duty death notification. Her own experience, she said, was traumatic and disorganized despite no malicious intent. Thirteen people arrived at her home. No one she knew personally was among them. Miscommunication left her unable to see Jorge for days.
The best practice she advocates: three people should arrive. The chief. A chaplain or victim services representative. And a support officer previously selected by the officer, someone who knows the family and can provide immediate, personal comfort. She also recommends departments have officers complete emergency information sheets identifying who should and should not respond to their home, who in their family should be notified, and what the spouse’s preferences would be.
Where to Find the Jorge Pastore Foundation
The foundation’s website is JPastoreFoundation.com, where visitors can donate, apply for training grants, volunteer, view upcoming courses, or purchase merchandise. The foundation is also active on Instagram at @JorgePastoreFoundation.
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