HOUSTON – Family and friends of Houston Police Sgt. Harold Preston celebrated his life and service with the Houston Police Department at a vigil Tuesday night.
HPD Southwest Command and The Hiram Clarke Storefront Association presented the event and dozens of first responders and family and friends attended.
READ: Who was HPD Sgt. Harold Preston?
“Thank you for all ya’ll’s support,” Preston’s daughter, Alison, said. “It really means a lot to my family. ... It’s really hard to cry because there’s so much love. There’s so much love.”
Preston would sometimes wake up his daughter when he left to work early every morning, she said. But she knew he wouldn’t be gone for long.
“He would leave and I would count to ten, and he would come back because he forgot something,” she said, laughing.
“I’m going to miss my dad,” she added. “And I really love him, and I know I made him proud. And he made me proud. I’m really going to miss him.”
“Thank you so much for all the honor you have given my son,” Preston’s mother, Anne, said at the vigil. “He deserves every bit of it.”
The event began and ended with prayers and songs of faith and praise.
Chief Art Acevedo, Assistant Cheif Finner and other HPD staff celebrated Preston’s character, his leadership in the department and his service to the community.
“It was an honorable life," said Finner, who knew Preston for 30 years. “Just as the commander said, who had one bad thing to say about Preston?"
Preston was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance call on Tuesday. Officer Courtney Waller was also shot in the arm and is recovering in the hospital in stable condition.