Fallen Dallas Police Department Officer Darron Burks, who was ambushed while sitting in his police cruiser last week, will be remembered as an active participant in his community.
Prior to becoming a police officer last year, Burks was a math teacher and coach and a Boy Scout leader. He was also a proponent of health and wellness and often participated in events with Run It Up-Dallas, a local running club.
“Everybody knew him. Good energy, good spirit,” Theo Murdaugh, the founder of the running club, said, per WFAA.
He recalled the last time he saw Burks at one of the club’s running events.
“He told me, ‘Hey man, I love what you’re doing. This is dope. I can’t believe you got so many of our people out here.’ Every interaction I’ve had with him was always positive,” Murdaugh said, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The news of Burks’ death has hit the running club hard, and some members have used the group’s running events as a way to cope with their grief.
“One of his fraternity brothers came to the run on Sunday, and he ran through our cheer line, and he threw up the Omega hooks, and you just saw the look on his face and how broken he was,” Murdaugh related, according to WFAA.
“He was just a good guy, and it just, it sucks that this happened to somebody that’s just that good of a person and that impacted a lot of people out here,” Murdaugh said of Burks.
Run It Up -Dallas is planning a memorial run to celebrate Burk’s life and the positive impact he has had on the community. The run will be held on Saturday, September 14, at 7:30 a.m. at Fair Oaks Park in Dallas. Participants are encouraged to wear purple, the color of Burk’s fraternity.
“We would love to have the Dallas Police Department to come out, his fraternity brothers to come out,” Murdaugh said.
He offered a poignant reminder to the community.
“Be together, celebrate each other because you just never know the day you’ll blink and somebody who’s been running next to you for years could be gone,” he said, per NBC 5.
