Officer Jeremy Henwood Remembered as Hero

The second floor of the SDPD's Mid-City Station was standing room only

A memorial was held one year after Jeremy Henwood was shot in the line of duty.

The San Diego police officer and combat Marine who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan was remembered Monday as a hero.

Henwood, 36, died Aug. 7, 2011 from gunshot wounds he received while sitting in his patrol car in City Heights.

San Diego police investigators said Dejon Marquee White pulled a black Audi alongside Henwoodโ€™s vehicle and shot the officer with a shotgun in what they believe was an unprovoked attack. White was later killed in a shootout with police.

On Monday, the second floor of the SDPD's Mid-City Station was standing room only.

"We're here to recognize not how he lost his life, but how he lived his life," said San Diego police chief William Lansdowne.

People piled in to remember the slain officer including someone Henwood met right before his death.

"That was a great man, that inspired my life and made a big impression on my life," said friend Daveon Scott.

Scott, 14, was at the McDonald's on Fairmont Avenue, just moments before Officer Henwood was shot.

"I was going to McDonald's to buy cookies and they said how many do you want, and I said 2, and they said 2, not 3? And I said no, I don't have enough," Scott said.

That's when Jeremy Henwood lent Daveon some extra cash to buy a third cookie. Watch video

"He said keep working at your dream and I said bye to him and that's the last time I spoke to him," Scott said.

There were many other stories shared about Henwood's random acts of kindness..

"I remember getting a call from the organ coordinator from Life Sharing, " said Randy Schaffer MD, Transplant Surgeon Scripps Green Hospital.

Schaffer was the transplant surgeon on duty at Scripps Green Hospital.

He says because Henwood was an organ donor, two moms in need of an organ transplant are now living healthy lives.

"A year later they are doing amazingly well,." he said.

A bittersweet day for many, who consider Officer Jeremy Henwood a hero, in life and death.
 

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