It’s hard to believe it has been a year since the community was shaken from its slumber by the sound of gunfire.
When all was said and done, two deputies, Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen, were dead and two more, Michael Boyington and Jason Triche, were in the hospital with gunshot wounds and seven people were behind bars, but answers seemed few and far between.
In the time since then, the wounded thankfully have returned home, some pleas have been made and the community as a whole has generally moved on with life.
But we have never forgotten. This was made clear by the moving remembrance ceremony, attended by scores from the local community, held Friday morning. It also is evidenced by the blue and black car magnets and pins still common across the region and the prayerful pauses at local public events.
In the pages of today’s paper, you will see further evidence of how much the community took the shootings to heart. They are filled with expressions of sympathy and gratitude from local residents and businesses, grateful for the courage and sense of self sacrifice displayed by the fallen for the greater good.
We are a community that remembers. We are also a community that bands together in times of distress. The days that followed the tragedy saw numerous blood drives and fundraisers set up across the area to aid those both the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who still face that possibility on a daily basis.
So, we join the community today and every day in saying “thank you” to those in law enforcement who risk their lives to protect the general public. And we lift our eyes to the skies and say “thank you” to Deputies Brandon Nielsen and Jeremy Triche, who gave everything in the pursuit of justice.