DENVER -- Officer Gordon Beesley served Arvada for 19 years. This morning, the community wanted to say "thank you."
"I think it is incredible to be out here showing support and respect for the fallen officer and just be a part of it all," said Debbie Dennis, who attended the Tuesday morning procession.
As hundreds of law enforcement vehicles drove down Highway 7, dozens of people stood alongside for miles, wanting to say goodbye for the last time.
"It is heartbreaking, it is heart-wrenching, there is a plethora of emotions. There is anger, there is sadness, it just runs the gamut of emotions especially when you are a police family," said Jennifer Dunn, who has family in law enforcement.
For those police families, what happened to Officer Beesley is a stark reminder of the risk people in law enforcement face every day.
"No matter how hard your husband trains and how well-trained they are, something like that you can’t prevent and you can’t do anything about, so I think that makes it harder for me," said a mother who attended the procession with her children.
And just a couple months from the procession honoring Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, it is a painful image that seems prevalent across Colorado.
"You’ve seen it one time and that is enough and then you have to see it a couple months later again. Even explaining to the kids when they see the news coverage and why we are here, they don’t fully understand, they’re too young to truly understand," said the mother looking on with her children.
What everyone from 6 to 60 years old can understand is the respect for a fallen officer, the people he touched and legacy he left behind.
