CORSICANA, TX, U.S.A.
U.S. MARINE CORPS
POLICE OFFICER, DALLAS DART POLICE DEPARTMENT
07/07/2016, DALLAS, TX, U.S.A.
Brent Alan Thompson of Corsicana was killed Thursday, July 7, 2016 while on duty in Dallas. Brent would have celebrated his 44th birthday on July 26.
Brent worked as a Corsicana Police Officer before joining the Dallas Dart Police Department as an officer. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps where he worked in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
He was a loving father who loved his family and life. He also loved helping others. He enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, playing the guitar, and working as a police officer.
“Though I’m heartbroken and hurt, I’m going to put on my badge and my uniform and return to the street, along with all of my brothers and sisters in blue,” Emily Thompson a fellow DART Police Officer stated at her husband’s memorial service. The widow of Police Officer Brent Thompson explained that her husband’s murder would not break her spirit or the resolve of his law enforcement colleagues.
“I married the most amazing, caring, loving, selfless man I’ve ever known. Brent was a fighter, a warrior, a hero and a scrapper. The kind of guy you’d want fighting with you,” Emily Thompson said, fighting back tears. “But Brent was also an amazing husband, father of six beautiful children that he talked about all the time. Brent was a son, a brother, an uncle and all-around phenomenal guy.”
“Brent was there for whoever needed him, whenever they needed him, and it didn’t matter what they needed him for,” she added.
Daughters Katie and Sandy Thompson said their dad has always been their hero. Now he’s a hero for others, too. They said he’d juggle two jobs and pick up overtime hours to provide for them. When he worked security in some of the most dangerous parts of Iraq and Afghanistan, he missed birthdays, dance recitals and football games, but he always made it home for Christmas.
One of his daughters said she’d kiss her father each time he left for work. At the church on Wednesday, she said goodbye once more. Reverend Rick Lamb, senior pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Corsicana, recalled Thompson as a fearless child, doting father and devoted public servant. He grew up to be a U.S. Marine and a police officer who protected children at Corsicana schools, worked with the tactical team of the Corsicana Police Department and, later, kept DART passengers safe.
Brent was a hands-on dad who loved his children “with every fiber of his being,” Pastor Lamb said.