By Lilly Kersh
Dozens of brothers and sisters formed a sea of purple and gold at the Dallas Police Department’s south central substation in southeast Oak Cliff on Sunday afternoon to honor Darron Burks, the 46-year-old officer shot and killed Thursday night.
The colors represent the brotherhood of Omega Psi Phi, the historically Black fraternity Burks pledged. Frat brothers greeted one another in solemn camaraderie outside the station, joining in grief.
Also in attendance were local and state leaders, first responders and community members who did not know Burks. The memorial continued Friday’s candlelight vigil at the For Oak Cliff community center where Burks was shot.
Keio Gamble helped organize Sunday’s memorial and the vigil Friday. He knew Burks, a fellow fraternity member, for 23 years. Burks was number four in his fraternity’s initiation class, Gamble said. To honor this, the event began at 4:04 in the afternoon.
“We’re devastated,” Gamble said. “He’s the only person I know that did everything right.”
Corey Cobb-Bey, 30, “executed” Burks within seconds of approaching his patrol vehicle in southeast Oak Cliff on Thursday night, according to police officials. Two officers who responded were shot and wounded.
Earlier Sunday, officers escorted Burks’ body from the Dallas County medical examiner’s office to Restland Funeral Home.
The hearse, with small American flags waving on either side, followed an officer on a motorcycle. A Dallas Police Department SUV carrying Burks’ family, civilian vehicles and more DPD vehicles came next.
At Restland, numerous officers saluted as the casket was taken from the hearse, draped in an American flag and wheeled inside. Dallas police Chief Eddie García stood alongside Burks’ mother. He held her hand as they followed the casket into the funeral home.
Photos: Slain Dallas police officer Darron Burks is transferred from the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office in Dallas to Restland Funeral home
Later in the afternoon, close friends, former classmates, coworkers, elected officials, first responders and strangers laid flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and flags on a police car parked in front of the south central substation.
A group of uniformed officers stood in a line at the back of the memorial. More than 100 people were in attendance. Flags flew half-mast in front of the station.
The fraternity was joined by members of Delta Sigma Theta, the organization’s sister sorority, wearing red and white.
Constable Deanna Hammond of precinct two, a member of Delta Sigma Theta, wore a red cowboy hat to the memorial. She and Burks worked together at Texans Can Academies, where he was a teacher and she was a counselor. They both switched into law enforcement. Burks graduated from the police academy in December.
“We put on this uniform and we never know,” Hammond said. “We’re a target. … It’s very senseless and very unfortunate. They took a good one.”
Janet and Jack Cooksey of Frisco paid their respects at the memorial. Their son, Landon Cooksey, is a Dallas police detective. They said they remember summer 2016 like it was yesterday, when a gunman killed five officers in downtown Dallas.
“[Burks] is one of his coworkers. And it could have been him,” Jack Cooksey said. “We live with this everyday.”
State Sen. Royce West addressed the crowd and called for action.
“The same resolve that we showed with George Floyd’s death … we should show the same sort of resolve to get something done about officers being injured or killed in the line of duty,” West told The Dallas Morning News.
Photos: Community mourns Dallas police officer Darron Burks at the department’s south central substation
Fredrick Bishop, a graduate of Paul Quinn College like Burks and a retired Dallas police detective, spoke at the memorial. Bishop is running for sheriff in Denton County and said law enforcement and communities need to work together.
“We have to knock that wall down that’s been brought up by the mistreatment of some people,” Bishop told The News. “As long as we stay divided, it’s not gonna happen.”
Dallas City Council member and Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins addressed the crowd, calling for togetherness in southern Dallas through a “healing process.”
“We have to stick together,” Atkins said to the crowd. “We are a family.”
What started in hushed tones and quiet sniffles became a loud tribute in song and brotherhood as fraternity members sang together in remembrance of Burks. The reunion, amid calls for unity and healing, was a celebration of community in his honor.
“We have each other to lean on and use as uplift and support, because we all have some type of connection to him,” Gamble said.
Staff photographer Smiley Pool and freelance photographer Azul Sordo contributed to this report.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
