As the Virginia Tech community mourns the loss of slain police officer Deriek Crouse, students have come together to raise funds for his wife, son and four stepsons the Roanoke Times reports. Crouse, 39, was shot and killed Thursday during a routine traffic stop, an incident that invoked memories of the 2007 shooting that left 32 dead, the Associated Press reports. As the slain officer and Iraq War veteran was remembered Monday as a “loving husband, father and public servant,” students continued to encourage community members to donate money to help the Crouse family.
“It just broke my heart knowing that these kids wouldn’t have their father around for the holidays,” Bethany Darnley, 22, a human development major from Pittsburgh, told the Roanoke Times.