Hundreds of people descended on a Texas gas station Saturday evening to declare that all lives matter.
Hundreds attending vigil to remember Deputy Darren Goforth. Impressive sight. pic.twitter.com/B1p3lwHhjx
— Tim Wetzel (@TimEWetzel) August 29, 2015
“I mean, he was doing his job, but he was just standing there,” Barbara Adams, a neighbor of the gas station, tells KHOU. “The cold-bloodedness of it really hit me.”
The spot immediately became a vigil of sorts, with flowers, balloons and American flags marking the pump where Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth was allegedly shot “execution-style” by Shannon J. Miles Friday night.
Prayer vigil for #HCSODEPUTYKILLED Darren Goforth scheduled 7pm tonight at murder scene, Telge @ West Road. pic.twitter.com/LTwKpcAcRh
— Doug Miller (@DougMillerTX) August 29, 2015
“I’ve talked to him several times about his family,” Brian McCullar, who lives in a neighborhood near the crime scene, remembered. “I know that they just recently got back from a vacation. I know he couldn’t wait to go on vacation with his family.”
Goforth’s wife, Kathleen Goforth, issued a statement Saturday night:
“There are no words for this. All the language that I know is inadequate for what I want to express. But for Darren, I will try. I can’t describe him with cliches and platitudes. My husband was an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility. He was loyal…fiercely so. And he was ethical; the right thing to do is what guided his internal compass. I admired this quality, perhaps, the most. For that was what made Darren good. And he was good. So, if people want to know the kind of man he was…This is it. He was who you wanted for a friend, a colleague, and a neighbor. However, it was I who was blessed so richly that I had the privilege of calling him my husband and my best friend.”
“If a deputy sheriff can be executed and murdered in the same area that I live in, I mean what’s the hope for older people and defenseless people,” said another neighbor, Hugh Benziger. “That could’ve been some old lady, an elderly person buying gas.”
But authorities don’t believe it was a random killing.
“When the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control,” Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman told reporters prior to Miles’ capture, CNN reported. “We’ve heard ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘All lives matter.’ Well, cops’ lives matter too. So why don’t we just drop the qualifier, and just say ‘Lives Matter,’ and take that to the bank.”
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