OfficerBlueCastle Rock, CO – The Castle Rock fire department swapped out lights on the Castle Rock star on Monday so that it would display a thin blue line to honor murdered Douglas County Deputy Zackari Parrish.
The Castle Rock fire department posted pictures of the star on Facebook and Twitter along with a message:
“As you may know, CRFD has maintained the lights on the star on top of the rock for decades. Today, we pay tribute to Deputy Zack Parrish by changing the horizontal bulbs from white to blue to create a ‘Thin Blue Line’. We hope that this will give the community something to look to as they think of Zack and the sacrifices that your first responders make every single day.”
Deputy Parrish and four other deputies, Mike Doyle, 28, Taylor Davis, 30, Jeff Pelle, 32, and Castle Rock Police Officer Tom O’Donnell, 41, had responded to a disturbance at around 5 a.m. on Sunday.
The deputies were let inside the apartment by the suspect’s roommate, and were shot within minutes of their arrival, after engaging the suspect and talking to him. Deputy Parrish was fatally shot, and the other officers suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The gunman was killed in a gunfight with police after a standoff.
Deputy Parrish is survived by his wife and two young daughters.
His wife spoke at a vigil for him on Monday night:
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is asking people who want to donate to make donations to their Fallen Officer Fund.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of DCSO Sheriff’s Deputy Parrish, both blood and blue. Godspeed, sir, we will take the watch from here. Thank you for your service.
Deputy Zackari Parrish, your life mattered.