DeKalb County police Officer David Rose, who rushed to the scene after hearing calls that shots were fired outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, knew the area well because his mother worked for Emory University Hospital, the county’s top official said.
Rose, 33, was critically injured in the shooting incident and died at the hospital where his mother had been an intensive care unit nurse for nearly two decades, DeKalb CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.
Cochran-Johnson said she spoke with Rose’s wife and mother at Emory University Hospital after he was taken there Friday evening.
“This young man, as a kid, literally grew up in the Emory community — walking the halls of the hospital,” Cochran-Johnson said, adding that his mother is convinced he responded to the call because he knew the area so well.
“That young man has been answering the call all of his life,” Cochran-Johnson said, adding, “His mom continually said he was always the first to help, that he’s just been such a good kid all of his life.”
Cochran-Johnson added that Rose graduated from the police academy in March, after being hired last September, and she remembers him vividly.
“He was a part of the first class that I addressed as CEO,” said Cochran-Johnson, who took office in January. “Just looking at him, you knew he was special.”
As the class leader of the department’s 138th academy, Rose addressed his classmates at the graduation. Despite their different backgrounds, Rose told his fellow graduates they were united in their desire to wear the badge.
“We had one thing in common. We wanted to serve,” Rose said. “We wanted to (be) part of something greater than ourselves. We wanted to wear the badge, not for the sake of the title, but for the responsibility that comes with it. And responsibility is exactly what this job demands.”
Rose said working as a law enforcement officer wasn’t just a career, but a calling.
“From the very first day, we learned that policing isn’t just about enforcing the law,” Rose said. “It’s about protecting the vulnerable, standing for justice and being the person who runs toward danger when others run away.”
Rose was a married father of two, with a third child on the way, officials said.
“We answer the call to serve our community, and he gave his life with a commitment to serve others, and he should be respected for that,” Interim Chief Greg Padrick said Friday night.
The DeKalb officer became the fourth from Georgia killed in the line of duty this year. Georgia is now third in the nation for officer deaths behind California with 10 and Texas with five, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page which tracks law enforcement deaths.
Details about Rose’s funeral arrangements were not immediately known on Saturday afternoon.
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