Officers Pay Tribute To Slain Texas Police Chief
TEMPLE (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Sheriffs and other officers converged on a Temple church to pay tribute to the slain police chief of the small Central Texas town of Little River-Academy.
Bell County Sheriff Eddy Lange and Milam County Sheriff David Greene eulogized Chief Lee Dixon, who was shot dead June 19 while checking a reported man with a gun. Dixon had reportedly gone to the scene of a call of a man with a gun and declined an initial offer for assistance, but then called back and asked that a second unit be sent to his location. Shortly thereafter, the sheriff's dispatcher began receiving calls about shots fired and an officer down.
Lange said the 53-year-old veteran police officer was an inspiration to other officers. Greene, Dixon's one-time employer, said Dixon's badge number would be retired.
After the funeral, a cortege bore Dixon to the Bell County Expo Center in Belton for a ceremony featuring a pipe-and-drum corps, a 21-gun salute and a bugler sounding taps.
David Gene Risner is in Bell County Jail without bond charged with capital murder in the slaying.
Little River-Academy is about 140 miles southwest of Dallas.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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