Memorial services for three of the police officers killed by a gunman in Dallas earlier in the month attracted thousands on 13 July.
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“He was smiling always ready to greet anybody and talk to anyone that wanted to talk to him and greet you with a hug and a good handshake”, said Foley.
Funeral services for Thompson, the first DART officer killed in the line of duty since 1989, were scheduled for later in the day in Corsicana.
“That one individual who made a decision to shoot police officers was not attacking the Dallas Police Department because of a lack of community relationships with the Dallas police”, Chief Lanier said during a press briefing Tuesday.
Numerous Dallas PD members filled Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano along with police officers from departments in New York, Massachusetts, Chicago and Ahrens’ native Los Angeles. Hatchett is representing the Castile family in the shooting death by police of Philando Castile last week in Falcon Heights, Minn. after a traffic stop by St. Anthony police.
Those without an invitation to the interfaith memorial service gathered at locations throughout Dallas in a show of solidarity.
A letter from a Minnesota sheriff’s department confirms a black driver who was killed by an officer last week had received his permit to carry a gun a year ago. The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, threatened to kill more police officers with explosives, and law enforcement found bomb-making material in his home.
“We have a lot of work to do, but it’s not impossible”, said Dallas resident Fonda Livingston. “Today is about Brent and trying to bring some closure to this family as they finish the job that they didn’t want to start, but had to start last week”. Lorne Ahrens have told law enforcement officers from as far away as Canada that Ahrens was a “supersized can of kickass” who was a voracious reader with an intelligence that was equal to his size. Nine officers and two civilians were injured in the attack.
He often volunteered, in uniform, at the school his 8-year-old and 10-year-old attended.
Funeral services have not yet been held for two other slain officers, Patricio Zamarripa, 32, known as Patrick, to be buried Saturday, and Michael Krol, for whom services are still pending. Sgt. Smith will receive another service on Thursday, in the church where he worked as a security guard.
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Onlookers paused to pay their respects to Lorne Ahrens of the Dallas Police Department and Brent Thompson, an officer with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, as public funeral processions snaked along area roads. He served as an Army ranger before becoming a Dallas officer.
