Dallas Police, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and El Centro College marked the anniversary of the night five police officers were killed in Downtown Dallas. July 7, 2016, four Dallas Police officers and a DART Police officer were shot. Nine other officers and two civilians were hurt.
Officers were escorting a protest of police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota in Downtown Dallas. The gunman started shooting, killing the officers. After a stand-off at El Centro, police used a bomb attached to a remote controlled robot to kill the gunman.
The officers killed were:
Lorne Ahrens, Dallas Police
Michael Krol, Dallas Police
Michael Smith, Dallas Police
Patrick Zamarripa, Dallas Police
Brent Thompson, DART Police
"We will never forget," says Rob Kyker, who was State Police Commissioner the night of the shooting. "Men and women put on the uniform, and they put the star over their heart, and they go out and serve. They're brave souls because they go out and serve to protect those they love."
Dallas Police did not have a public memorial this year. Instead, Chief Eddie Garcia says the department is planning a private ceremony at a station for officers. Garcia was working for the San Jose Police Department in California the night of the shooting.
"I'll never forget where I was on 7/7/16, in my living room, watching this unfold with tears swelling up," he says.
Garcia attended the memorial at El Centro College. He says the memorial can give officers a chance to honor those who have died in the line of duty, but he says events like that can also show gratitude to current officers.
"The dangers officers face on a daily basis, I'm not quite certain people truly grasp," he says. "This was the most devastating day for us, losing four officers in Dallas and a brother officer from DART, but our officers put themselves in harm's way every day."
Patrick Zamarripa's dad, Rick, spoke at the memorial at El Centro. He said they lived next to a Fort Worth police officer when Patrick was growing up.
"He said, 'Daddy, I want to be a police officer just like Mike,'" Rick Zamarripa said. "I would tell him, 'Pat, do good in school, be a good person. You'll get there.'"
Zamarripa remembers the day his son came to his house and told him he was going to be a Dallas Police officer.
"You have to be fair with everybody. Be kind but most of all, be careful," Zamarripa says he told his son. "With that in mind, he's done his duty to God, his country and the City of Dallas, protecting the lives of people here."
Also at the ceremony Friday was former DART bus driver Don Washington. Washington retired three years ago, but he was working the night of the shooting and volunteered to drive people away from El Centro.
"It really took a toll, and this is the first time I've come down to El Centro College since the incident," he said in an interview after the service.
Washington said he avoided the college after the shooting. When he passed the school on his bus route, he said he would not look at the building.
"It gets hard during the anniversary. It gets really hard," he says. "Last night was a difficult task in trying to fall off to sleep."
Washington says he knew Brent Thompson, the DART officer who was killed. He says he had called DART Police several times for unruly passengers, and Thompson would sometimes respond.
Washington says Thompson would talk to the people who led to the call and then ask him if he was comfortable letting them keep riding. He says he would always let the person stay on.
"Whatever Brent said to that guy, he straightened up his act because I had no more problems with him," Washington says. "He was a guy who I really miss."
Washington now wears a memorial bracelet with Thompson's name.
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