Then, the shining black of the hearse carrying Sean May, closely followed by the limousine with his family, drove by.
One man asked us: "Is that the district attorney who was shot?"
We told him yes and he turned and saluted.
The memorial service for Adams County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean May was Thursday morning at the Buell Theatre in downtown Denver.
May was shot and killed in his backyard on his way home from work on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
The violence of his death was underscored with Adams County deputies stationed on every level of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Undercover law enforcement officers moved through the crowd.
Denver Police don't know if his killing was random or whether he was targeted because of a case he worked on.
Around 1,500 people showed their respect, honor and love for May, who was part of the Child Protection Team in Adams County and was also in the rotation to try murder cases.
Gov. Bill Ritter was scheduled to be in Minnesota Thursday to provide the Democratic rebuttal to the Republican National Convention. Instead, he chose to speak at May's memorial service.
"Today we remember him answering a higher calling and we thank you for that," said Ritter.
During the service, Adams County District Attorney Don Quick spoke to the killer about May.
"If you shot Sean to silence him, you failed because we'll see Sean May's commitment to fairness from his colleagues every day up in court," said Quick. "If you shot Sean May because you were so cruel that you tried to have Sean's child not know his father, you have failed again."
Corin May is pregnant with their unborn son.
Sean's brother Matt said, "Those who knew him, knew he was a bit of a dork. He was lovely, but was a dork and that's one of the things that made people love him so much."
At the end of the service, the crowd sang the Beatles song, "All you need is love." The words were printed on the program.
As the casket was carried away, the words of the song still lingered.
