Community Honors Life Of Tecumseh Officer Killed In Line Of Duty

The man accused of shooting and killing Tecumseh Police Officer Justin Terney is still in an Oklahoma City hospital.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Terney pulled over Byron Shepard on a traffic stop. During the stop, he learned there was a warrant for Shepard's arrest.

Shepard tried to run away and Terney chased him to a wooded area and then shots were fired.

Terney and Shepard were both taken to OU Medical Center where Terney died. Shepard was shot four times and is in critical condition.

3/27/2017 Related Story: Tecumseh Officer Dies After Sunday Night Shooting, Suspect ID'd

The whole Canadian community is mourning the loss of Terney, and those that knew him said he was wise beyond his years.

Terney’s close friends said his reach expanded far beyond Canadian, or even Tecumseh. They said he touched lives anywhere and everywhere he went.

Chief Jeremy Staley with Sam's Point Volunteer Fire Department said, "All the younger kids looked up to him around here. He showed a lot of respect to everybody, doesn't matter who it is. There's no mean bone in that man's body."

Terney loved to hunt and fish, but most of all, he loved to serve.

"He hated to see the bad things, so he wanted to make a difference. He wanted to help people out the best he could and he felt like that was the best way he could," said Terney’s friend Dustin Pulschny.

Pulschny received a text early Monday morning, condolences for his injured friend.

"I found out it was him and that he was in critical condition, and my heart just sank. I didn't know what to think. I just had a numbness come over me like, it's not real. He was too young," he said.

Tommy Pinkley, Terney’s former teacher, said serving the community was in his blood, even from the time he was in seventh grade.

"He was doing a job that he had dreamed to do for a long time, that he wanted to do for a long time. It's very unfortunate that it ended that way,” he said. "Just a good human being, full of life, loved the outdoors and his friends, and wanted to just help people."

Friends, teachers, and co-workers gather together Monday for a moment of silence for a young police officer taken too soon.

All of the people with spoke with said the same thing about Terney, that he was the type of man that would easily give his own life to save another.