DALLAS _ Commemorations for those who gave their lives and saved lives one year ago in downtown Dallas took place Friday with several ceremonies honoring police.
Slain Dallas Police Officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith and Patrick Zamarripa, and Brent Thompson, an officer for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, were the focus of an outpouring of sorrow and gratitude on the first anniversary of the July 7 ambush.
Faith Forward Dallas, a coalition of local faith leaders, began the day's events with a prayer service at Thanks-Giving Square.
In attendance were Dallas police officers, elected officials and Odell Edwards, father of Jordan Edwards, who was killed by a Balch Springs police officer earlier this year.
Imam Omar Suleiman, a bilingual professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University, opened the event by calling to mind why protesters had gathered last July 7 after the deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La.
"When someone becomes violent and decides that it's their right to take the life of someone else, it doesn't matter what faith they profess or claim to profess at that point. It doesn't matter what skin color they have. It doesn't matter what they're wearing. At that point, we stand against them, and we stand with their victims," Suleman said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins reflected on seeing "grace under fire" as officers ushered him safely into City Hall as shots rang out.
"The actions of one lone assailant brought two diametrically opposed forces _ peaceful protest and violence _ together in one instant," Jenkins said. "Still, in this terrible moment, we saw such grace."
Dallas Police Sgt. Dan Mosher then took the microphone to say a prayer.
"We thank you so much that you created us equal but different and that we are all one people on this earth," Mosher said. "I pray that as we move forward, we would celebrate our differences and learn to love one another."
He then hugged Odell Edwards, Jordan's father.
El Centro College hosted a ceremony focused on renewal at the Student Center downtown, near where the shooting started a year ago.
The shooter, Micah X. Johnson, gunned officers down just outside and inside the campus. Johnson holed up in a second-floor hallway where police tried for hours to negotiate with him before sending in a bomb-wielding robot that killed him.
Council member Adam McGough, a program coordinator at the college, said he didn't have a class that day. He didn't realize Johnson was in the El Centro building until he had gotten downtown for the first news conference.
"I think about it a lot ... it's something that we live and relive every time we walk these streets," McGough said.
The college unveiled a student-made art installation Friday. Paper tree branches decorated a room in the student center and appeared between photos of police officers from that day. Photos were also projected on a white, miniature forest at the front of the room.
John Abbott, an officer who was injured that night when the glass doors of the college exploded from gunfire, attended the El Centro event. He said he was proud of the strength of Dallas and asked residents to remember that "perception is not always reality."
"Wait for us to do our jobs. Let us do what we need to do," he said. "Talk to us before you start doing what this guy did."
Across town, at Kiest Park in central Oak Cliff, basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman and her charity unveiled two new basketball courts, or Dream Courts, in Kiest Park.
Lieberman was moved to donate the courts to Dallas after the ambush. Her mission to bring cops together with young people dovetails with former Police Chief David Brown's support for community policing.
"You are bringing young people together with police officers when there is no crisis," Brown told her.
Brown, who retired in October, was back in his native Oak Cliff on Friday to praise Lieberman and help open the courts.
"This community won't be the same after Nancy Lieberman touched it," he said.
Five oak trees will be planted in Kiest Park near the Dream Courts in memory of Ahrens, Krol, Smith, Zamarripa and Thompson.
Also Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott called on the state to stand with law enforcement. All officers were asked to turn on their red and blue lights for a minute at 10 a.m.
The governor spoke Friday at San Antonio Police Officer Miguel Moreno's funeral. Moreno was fatally shot last week.
"Respect for our law enforcement officials must be restored in this nation," Abbott said in a written statement. "It is our officers who stand between us and all that threatens, and we must stand behind them by sending a clear message that attacks on our men and women in blue will not be tolerated. I ask that all Texans come together to show our appreciation for those who keep us safe."
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said the somber day should be a moment for residents to reflect on the officers' shared sacrifice.
"May today serve as a reminder to renew our commitment to standing united as a community and strengthening the bonds that tie us together as citizens of Dallas County," she said.
