SAN ANGELO, Texas — Community members gathered Sunday afternoon in downtown San Angelo for the Pray for Law Enforcement event.
According to Marie Coffey, event organizer, the event is the result of the events that occurred in Eden on May 10.
“Out here in West Texas, we respect and cherish everyone, but especially our law enforcement and when something like this happens, we all band together,” Coffey said. “It’s been a beautiful outpouring to see everyone come together like this. I hate that it was the result of a tragedy but it’s still very moving and very heartwarming to see the support for the families and for law enforcement now and going forward.”
At approximately 1:30 p.m., Coffey addressed the crowd and thanked them for attending the event.
“Thank you for being here,” Coffey said. “ It seems in times like these, prayer may be the only thing that we do have.”
Attendees then joined hands and formed a living prayer chain while Coffey led with words of praise, followed by a moment of silence to allow each person to say their own prayer.
Attendees described the community coming together for such an event as “fantastic” and “wonderful.”
Donald Hall attended the event because his son, who is a Concho County peace officer.
“ I didn’t know one of them but the other one I’ve known for years and they are just like a family to us,” Hall said.
Hall had this to say about Sunday’s event, “I think it’s fantastic. We need more support and it’s great that the people are doing this.”
Natalie Whitaker said she attended the event and thinks it’s wonderful that the community came out to support the event.
“My husband is the constable here in town, so we need all the help we can get at this point,” Whitaker said. “Prayers are exactly what we need right now.”
In addition to praying for law enforcement, t-shirts with the event logo were available for purchase. Proceeds from the sale will go to the families of the fallen deputies, according to Coffey.
“We’re running it through the San Angelo Police Department Association Charities because they are an established 501C3, a nonprofit,” Coffey said.
The nonprofit will disperse the funds to the families of Deputy Samuel Leonard and Sgt. Stephen Jones.
