The Fallen: 5 Officers Slain In Dallas Shooting Shared Common Passion To Serve

Dallas, TX -- The five police officers killed in Dallas have been identified, and their personal narratives have come to light. Their names are Brent Thompson, Lorne Ahrens, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael J. Smith, and Michael Krol.

Horrific events can sometimes be viewed only in the abstract — five cops killed in the line of duty — even while feeling empathy for victims and their families. But the officers killed in Dallas are not mere statistics to a horrible story nor are they an abstraction. Rather, they were five men who were fathers, husbands, brothers, sons. Ranging in ages from 32 to 55, all took disparate paths to law enforcement careers — some hometown boys done good, others transplants from cities elsewhere in the country.

But to a man, they shared a common thread: Their devotion to public service, and their willingness to put themselves in harm's way to protect the public they serve. Today, we mourn for them and the families they left behind.

Brent Thompson

Brent Thompson, 43, had worked for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority for seven years. In addition to finding a fulfilling career at DART, he also found love, DART Chief James Spiller said. Less than two weeks ago, Thompson married another transit officer at the transportation authority.

"Brent was a great officer," Spiller told MSNBC on Friday. Thompson was the father of six grown children from a previous marriage and had recently become a grandfather for the third time.

Prior to joining DART, Thompson worked for a private military contractor, DynCorp International, for four years until 2008. In his LinkedIn page, Thompson described his work there as an international police liaison officer, assisting in the training of Iraqi police. His last assignment for the company was as its chief of operations for southern Iraq, helping train teams covering Baghdad to the southern border with Kuwait.

"I am motivated by a 'Team' atmosphere," Thompson wrote in his LinkedIn page. "I enjoy working on challenging tasks and problem solving with my peers. I am constantly looking for different ways to serve the department, this helps to keep my work from becoming sedentary and boring."

Thompson was a 1990 graduate of Corsicana High School before attending Navarro College in Dallas.

Another vital statistic found in his LinkedIn page: Thompson would have celebrated his 44th birthday on July 26.

DART has set up a GoFundMe account in honor of Thompson to help his family defray funeral costs and other expenses. Thompson was the first DART officer killed in the line of duty since the formation of the agency's police force in 1989, a spokesman said.

Lorne Ahrens

Lorne Ahrens was a gentle giant. Standing 6' 5" tall and weighing 300 pounds — a hulking presence set off by a bald head — even friends acknowledged he cut a intimidating figure. According to the Washington Post, Ahrens played semi-pro football before entering law enforcement.

"He was a big ol' boy," his father-in-law, Charlie Buckingham, told the Post. "Big as he is, just walking down the street he cut a real figure. I'm sure it helped him in his work."

Ahrens lived in Burleson, Texas, with Buckingham's daughter, Katrina (a Dallas police detective herself) along with the couple's children — a 10-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.

The father-in-law lives just a few miles away from the family, and was watching Thursday's events in Dallas unfold on his television set. Katrina had gone to bed early so she might start her early shift, and Buckingham told the Post he and his wife decided to drive over to the law enforcement couple's home.

“We got there just a few minutes after the police knocked on her door,” Buckingham told a Post reporter. "They told her she should come down to the hospital with them.”

Katrina dressed quickly, leaving her sleeping children under the care of her in-laws. By the time she got to the hospital, Ahrens was out of surgery. But then, complications: “They had to take him back in,” Buckingham said. “She said he didn’t make it.”

Ahrens formerly served in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and his brethren in blue posted a tribute to their fallen colleague on their Facebook page.

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is saddened to learn that one of the fallen Dallas Police Officers was a former member of the ‪#‎LASD‬," officials wrote. "Serving the LASD and the residents of Los Angeles County for more than 10 years from 1991 to 2002, Lorne Ahrens left the Department as a Law Enforcement Technician on January 23, 2002 and officially began his service with the Dallas Police Department just two days later."

They said he would be "sorely missed" by the LASD family.

"He is remembered by the LASD for serving at the Lennox and Lancaster Sheriff’s Stations as a highly regarded and respected public servant," officials wrote. "His colleagues today at the LASD are describing him as the type of person who always had a smile on his face and greeted you with kind regard. They said he was an incredible dispatcher who served the patrol deputies in the field well by always looking out for them and taking officer safety into account when dispatching calls for service.

LASD Captain Merrill Ladenheim added: “Lorne was a big guy with an even bigger heart.”

Patrick Zamarripa

In its headline, the New York Daily News summarized the life of Patrick Zamarripa succinctly yet effectively: "Slain Dallas police officer Patrick Zamarripa, a Mexican-American Navy veteran, loved being a cop, dad."

Indeed, at just 32 years old, the married Zamarripa was enjoying being the father to a toddler and school-age stepchild, the Daily News reported. He had a calling to serve, starting right out of high school in Fort Worth with a stint in the U.S. Navy during which he did three tours in Iraq before returning to Texas to become a Dallas policeman.

"Patrick would bend over backward to help anybody," his dad, Rick Zamarripak, told the Associated Press. "He'd give you his last dollar if he had it. He was always trying to help people, protect people. As tough as he was, he was patient, very giving," he added, repeating sentiments he would also tell CNN.

The late officer joined the force five years ago and was assigned to the downtown bicycle patrol unit, his father said. Worried about his son's safety in his dangerous line of work, the elder Zamarripa had recently put his son in touch with another relative who worked in the government sector — hoping his son might find a less dangerous line of work, according to the Daily News.

" 'No, I want to stay here,' " the older man recalled his son saying. " ''I like the action.' "

Zamarripa is survived by his wife and high school sweetheart, Kristy Villasenor, their 2-year-old daughter, Lyncoln, and a 10-year-old stepson.

Michael J. Smith

NBC 5 reports Michael J. Smith was a 28-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, a career that followed a seven-year stint in the U.S. Army. He lived in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton with his family. Officials with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas said Smith, 55, is survived by a wife and two children — a high school freshman and a fourth-grader.

His brother-in-law told Dallas television station WFAA that the fallen officer was an exceptional father to his two daughters. He added Smith served as an Army Ranger before attending the Lamar Institute of Technology.

Recently, his brother-in-law tried to convince smith to retire. But the police officer said he was concerned for his fellow officers and decided to remain on the force.

After an upbringing in southeast Texas, he joined the force in September 1989. He was the kind of officer who was a cops' cop — quite literally, having been bestowed the award "Cops' Cop." Citing a publication acknowledging the award, the New York Times noted the Police Association "praised his prestigious career. The publication presciently noted his mettle — the resistance to retire and leave his brethren to protect the streets alone" mentioning how Smith had been injured on duty several years ago after a gang member “lunged at his partner with an unknown object in his hand.”

Michael Krol

Michael Krol, 40, was originally from Redford Township, Michigan. His uncle, Jim Ehlke, told WDIV-TV in Detroit that Krol had a passion for helping people -- and that being an officer was his life dream.

Krol was an 8-year veteran of the department.

"He got into law enforcement and worked really hard to be a police officer," his uncle said. "He spent some time at the correctional facility. It wasn’t quite what he was looking for, so he worked pretty hard to find a job and got one in Dallas."

Once on the Texas force, Krol was an enthusiastic public servant, Ehlke said: "He was all in," the uncle said. "He was all in."

His family was perpetually worried about his safety, but knew how committed he was to his job, the uncle told the station.

Before his arrival in Dallas, Krol had served in the Wayne County, Mich., jail system from 2003 to 2007.

5 Days of Mourning

In the state capital, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered flags on public buildings be flown at half staff to honor the dead. For the next five days beginning Friday, the governor's mansion in downtown Austin would be bathed in blue light in honor of the fallen officers, he added.

Image via Dallas PD

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