Funeral Services Announced for Dallas Officer Patrick Zamarripa

Fallen Dallas Police Officer Patrick Zamarripa will be laid to rest Saturday, according to his family.

Zamarripa was one of the five officers gunned down following a protest in downtown Dallas Thursday night.

There will be a Rosary at 6 p.m. Friday at Wilkerson Greines Athletic Center in Fort Worth. His funeral will be the following morning at the same location at 11 a.m.

Navy Veteran With An Urge to Serve

Zamarripa had an urge to serve -- first in the Navy, where his family said he did three tours in Iraq, then back home in Texas as a Dallas police officer.

"He went over there (to Iraq) and didn't get hurt at all, and he comes back to the states and gets killed," his father, Rick Zamarripa, told The Associated Press by phone Friday.

The elder Zamarripa described his son as hugely compassionate.

"Patrick would bend over backward to help anybody," Rick Zamarripa said.

Zamarripa, who would have turned 33 next month, was married with a 2-year-old daughter and 10-year-old stepson.

He joined the Navy shortly after high school in Fort Worth, serving eight years on active duty and then in the reserves, according to the Navy.

Zamarripa returned to Texas in 2009. He joined the Dallas force about five years ago and recently was assigned to downtown bicycle patrols, his father said.

Rick Zamarripa recently put his son in touch with an in-law who works elsewhere in government, hoping his son might leave behind the force and its risks.

"No, I want to stay here," was the reply, according to his father. "I like the action."