SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Police Department on Friday held a Memorial Day ceremony to honor the lives of officers killed in the line of duty.
The ceremony took place in the courtyard at the San Antonio Police Training Academy, which is located in the 12200 block of SE Loop 410, on the city’s South Side.
Flags were seen at half staff and a black granite monument carries the stone carved names of the fallen officers.
The memorial service was highlighted by a 21-gun salute, the sounding of Taps, SAPD pipes and drums, the playing “Amazing Grace” and a fly-over by SAPD Blue Eagle.
Families of the fallen were given central seating, with yellow roses to lay at the monument.
The ceremony paid special recognition to Officer David Evans, who was shot multiple times at a restaurant in 2003.
Evans finished another five years with SAPD and then served eight more with the Northeast Independent School District Police Department, but SAPD said he succumbed to complications from his old injuries in February of 2022.
“I’m proud of him. I’m proud of what he did. I’m proud of the man he was with the uniform and outside the uniform. He loved his family and he loved people. And he’s so deserving of this honor,” Elizabeth Evans, the widow of David Evans said.
Former City Councilman Judge William Cruz Shaw was the keynote speaker of the event.
During the ceremony he recalled his own connection to fallen Officer Miguel Moreno, who was shot and killed in 2017.
Shaw had a short stint teaching at Lanier High School, which overlapped with Moreno’s time there as a student.
NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Ofc. David Evans worked at NISD after leaving SAPD. He worked at NEISD. The error has been corrected.