As the crowd ebbs and flows at the memorial outside Dallas Police Headquarters, some of the faces get lost in the crowd. They are children, and there are lots of them gazing at the growing collections of cards, balloons and stuffed animals.
"Mom, look what that says," said 10-year old Tony Garcia as he pointed to a poster. "We stand with you."
The Garcia family came to see the memorial at Tony's urging. He brushed away tears as he walked around it.
"It's just sad," the child said. "To see all these police officers just die in one night."
Tony wants to be a police officer when he grows up. His mother, Arlene Garcia, said it is impossible to shield children from what happened.
"Just because there's lots of sad things happening lately in life," she said. "And now you can't just ignore it when you have children."
Graham King brought his four children and wife to see the memorial.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"You understand why we're doing this?" King asked his daughter Lillian. "Because they protected us and they died doing it, right?"
King said he didn't want his children to be shielded from what happened.
"Honestly, I think that's what's wrong with my generation," King said. "They expect everything to be given to them, and I don't want my kids to be raised like that. They need to know what people sacrifice and do for us on a daily basis."
As they left, they walked over to greet Dallas police officers who were standing nearby. As King's oldest son, Jacob, extended a hand to shake, an officer crouched down as said, "How about a hug?"
