Friends, family gather for memorial service for fallen Officer Darron Burks

Hundreds are expected to gather Saturday at 11 a.m. for the funeral of Dallas police Officer Darron Burks, a former schoolteacher who was shot to death in his squad car last week.
Burks, 46, was fatally shot in a “premeditated execution” the night of Aug. 29 in southeast Oak Cliff, Dallas police Chief Eddie García said. The patrol officer was parked outside the For Oak Cliff community center when a gunman approached him for a brief discussion from the driver’s side window, raised a handgun and fired, the chief said.
His celebration of life will be at Watermark Community Church on Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway in North Dallas. It will follow a visitation at the church from 9-11 a.m.
Burks graduated from the police academy in December. He grew up in Lake Highlands and earned a bachelor’s degree from Paul Quinn College, where he played football and served as president of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
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Tributes have poured in for the man who’d chased his dream of public service through law enforcement, no matter that his age was older than many of his colleagues. He was devoted to helping others, loved ones said, often joking around with his students as a math teacher and giving up his lunch hours for kids who needed one-on-one time.
Gov. Greg Abbott told Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson that all flags in Dallas and “the surrounding area” may be lowered to half staff Saturday in honor of Burks, according to a city news release.
“The First Lady and I extend prayers of comfort for the Burks family during their time of grief, and we urge all Texans to remember and honor Officer Burks’ service as a dedicated and trusted law enforcement officer,” Abbott wrote Friday in a letter responding to the mayor’s request to lower flags.
After the shooting, Senior Cpls. Jamie Farmer and Karissa David responded to check on Burks and were also shot by the gunman, the chief said. Police pursued the 30-year-old gunman to Lewisville and fatally shot him. Farmer was treated and released from the hospital, while David has been hospitalized but listed as stable.