Hundreds of people, including his fiancee, children and fellow officers, gathered at a church in South Georgia on Wednesday night for a prayer service in honor of a slain Eastman police officer, according to the Telegraph of Macon.
Tim Smith was shot Saturday as he investigated a suspicious person call. A visitation for Smith was held at Dodge County High School on Thursday, with his funeral to follow.
Smith, a father of three who joined the Eastman Police Department in February 2011, died from his wounds at an area hospital. He was not wearing a protective vest, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman Scott Dutton said.
Royheem Delshawn Deeds, the man accused of shooting Smith, was arrested Monday in Florida.
Eastman, in Dodge County, is about 55 miles south of Macon.
Before the prayer service Wednesday, the officer’s family viewed his body for the first time, the Telegraph reported. Saying he was too upset, Smith’s father, 56-year-old Lewis Smith, did not attend.
“Timothy and I were closer than brothers, closer than father and son,” Lewis Smith, himself a police officer, told the Telegraph. “We were also brothers in law enforcement.”
Monday would have been Smith’s 31st birthday.
