Short bursts of police sirens cut through the cold winds Monday night as a black hearse pulled out of Memorial Hospital.

On his 11th anniversary as an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy, Micah Flick’s comrades ushered him through the final moments of his last shift.

Hundreds of people – possibly more – stood in the freezing wind across Colorado Springs Monday evening, many holding American flags to pay one last tribute to the fallen deputy as he rode from Memorial Hospital Central to the county Coroner’s Office.

Flick was backed by hundreds of cruisers and squad cars from more than 20 law enforcement agencies in a procession that stretched nearly a mile.

The act was one of solidarity, said Michael Schnee, who had grabbed the faded U.S. flag from his front porch and raced in his car to the Boulder Street curbside.

A block away, Steve Kellogg held a large U.S. flag with one royal blue stripe as he stood in the sea of red and blue flashing lights. The Colorado Springs native had just gotten off work at the Limon Correctional Facility when he heard about the shooting.

“It does anger me that somebody would go to such extreme lengths to take an officer’s life – an officer, again, who is sworn to protect our community,” Kellogg said.

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