Family, Friends Mourn Loss Of Miami Officer
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Family, friends, and fellow Miami Police officers are mourning the loss of Officer Carl Patrick who was found dead in his home Friday.
His mother cried as she held up a photo of Patrick in his police uniform. "My son, you're gone. The Lord see fit to take you from me," Lucille Patrick sobbed.
Patrick was a 25-year veteran of the Miami Police Department. He was uniformed patrol officer working out of the North district. He was also a military veteran who had been deployed several times.
Major Delrish Moss of the Miami Police Department said he knew officer Patrick for the past 25 years and called him a good person with a good heart.
"Very quiet...He's the kind of guy who would come on a scene and keep it calm. He was also a member of the honor guard; the police officers who stand a little taller, dress a little brighter and shine a little brighter, when it comes to wearing the uniform. He's always there and it's just really a tragedy," said Major Moss.
"He was in the Army. Then he went into the Air Force; and then the police force and there he stayed for 25 years and being on there nobody ever got hurt, but somebody had to kill him. This is awful," neighbor Nadine Frank said.
Frank said Patrick was a familiar face at his mother's house long after he moved away coming by every day or every other day.
"He took care of me... He treated me like a queen" Lucille Patrick told CBS4's Maggie Newland.
Suddenly, the visits stopped.
Frank said she got a call from Patrick's mother Friday. "She said she hadn't heard from him. I said 'He'll be alright,' and she said 'Okay,' and we hung up talking, then she called me this morning and said he was dead. I just started screaming. I couldn't believe it."
The news of the killing devastated Patrick's family and his police family.
"We deal with tragedy every day, but when it hits home it really just takes you a step back," said Moss.
Lucille Patrick said, "We had so many police today and they tell me I'm very strong but I don't feel so strong. It's like part of my life is gone."
RELATED CONTENT:
