Thousands of law enforcement officers stood at attention to form a wall Friday outside one of Houston's largest churches as a 21-gun salute and flyover by police helicopters were carried out in honor of a slain sheriff's deputy.
Symbolic gestures were seen statewide for slain Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, who was gunned down at a gas pump a week ago. Goforth was in uniform when he was killed while putting fuel in his patrol car. A 30-year-old Houston man is charged with capital murder. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked that officers on patrol around the state turn on their vehicles' flashing lights for a minute as services begin 11 a.m. Friday.
"It's to show solidarity with a fellow officer who gave his life for the job he loved doing, and to remind the citizens that we're there to serve them," Irving Assistant Police Chief Jeff Spivey said. "We grieve as well."
Dozens of Dallas police officers boarded buses to Houston Friday morning to attend the funeral. Meanwhile, deputies with the Dallas County Sheriff's Office will line the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge between 10:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. to honor the slain deputy.
North Texans Back the Blue
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"It's a great honor. These officers volunteered their time to go," Dallas Police Association President Ron Pinkston said. "Some of these officers were put on special assignment, so the Department wanted to pay their respects."
Irving Police expect 75 police cruisers to participate. About 20 cruisers were parked in front of police headquarters to heed Abbott's call for solidarity.
"If people see us parked on the side of a road with the sirens on, they should think about the job police officers do every day," Spivey said. "Leaving their families. Going out into the world to protect and serve their communities. And hopefully take a moment just to be thankful for that sacrifice."
Second Baptist Church, which holds 7,000 people, was filled. Some officers stood outside and watched the nearly two-hour service on big-screen televisions, while other spectators gathered outside the suburban convenience store where Goforth was killed to view the funeral on screens set up there. Flowers, balloons, posters and written messages in memory of Goforth still surround the pump where he was shot.
"We come to this place with heavy hearts, and have questions we don't really understand," Lt. Don Savell, the sheriff's department chaplain, said as the ceremony began. "We gather to share the grief we all feel and perhaps to find the strength to bear our sorrow and to look for seeds of hope."
"Darren Goforth was one of the good guys, one that made a difference," Sheriff Ron Hickman said during the funeral. He said Goforth's life was taken "senselessly and in an act of cowardice" the night of Aug. 28 but that he and others "will answer calls in Darren's honor."
He said about 11,000 officers from "coast to coast" had come to pay respects.
Outside the church after the service, Hickman gave Goforth's wife, Kathleen, the flag that had been draped over the casket.
A line of patrol cars formed a large cross in the parking lot, and two Houston fire trucks with ladders extended formed an arch with a flag extended at the top. People lined streets as the funeral procession drove away. A private burial was planned.
Officers at various Texas law enforcement departments held moments of silence outside their buildings around the time of the funeral.
The killing brought out strong emotions in the law enforcement community, with Hickman suggesting last weekend that it could have been influenced by heightened national tension over the treatment of blacks by police. Goforth was white and the man charged with killing him, Shannon Miles, is black.
The Rev. Ed Young told those at the funeral that he fears evil has reached an "almost epidemic stage" with attacks on those who "wear the blue" -- a reference to the police uniform.
But he said he's seen signs of hope in the wake of Goforth's death, with people being supportive of officers and openly praying for them.
"Things are changing," Young said. "There will be a new Houston, a new Texas, a new America.
"And you can write it down. We have your back," he told officers as the funeral crowd stood and applauded.
NBC 5's Jeff Smith contributed to this report.