Little Elm Community Still Grieving Detective Jerry Walker's Loss
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LITTLE ELM (CBSDFW.COM) - There's a hole in Little Elm's heart.
Many who never met Detective Jerry Walker feel the loss.
"I have a nephew in Connecticut, who served in a small town like Little Elm," explains Liz Dellaccio. "This is striking too close to home. This could be him."
Walker was shot and killed during a standoff last Tuesday.
Monday, he's being remembered for how he lived. Kyra Odat drove five hours to honor her former school resource officer.
"He found me at a party one night, and said, 'You need to get home before I call your dad.' When I got home, he had already called my dad. I'm going to miss him very much," says Kyra Odat.
The tip jar at Joe's Pizza is overflowing with donations for Detective Walker's family. Donors have raised close to $5,000.
"For the 11 years that I've been here, this has been home to many officers. This is their office," explains owner Gilly Lusha. "You don't know how it affects you until it happens to you - until you actually lose a friend."
Over in McKinney, Lailani Rumfield is one of many law-enforcement wives taking turns cooking hot meals for Walker's wife and 4 kids.
"We made anything from enchiladas, to spaghetti, to Italian chicken," says Rumfield.
A little home-cooked healing for a family who needs it most.
"We're working to find ways to bring them comfort as much as we can," says Rumfield.
The community is honoring Det. Walker's memory in other ways around town, too. Tying blue ribbons on tress for example.
"It's just out of respect and a reminder when people see them," says Kim Schumacher.
Car decals with Walker's badge number 633 were also distributed around town.
"Officer Walker had a big enough personality that he connected with everybody and I wanted to keep that alive," says the creator of the decals, Jake Jacobson.
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