“He was the glue that held our shift together”
Officer, 31, who was shot to death Jan. 24, honored for work, life with laughter, tears
An Adams County sheriff’s deputy dressed in a crisp, light-blue uniform with a patrolman’s hat pulled low over his eyes paused to hold back tears before telling people how much his fallen colleague, Deputy Heath Gumm, meant to those who served by his side.
“He was the glue that held our shift together,” Deputy Cole Cockrum said. “Today, the county, state and country need to know we lost the most amazing cop, husband, son and brother I know. I’ll miss you, brother. I love you.”
Gumm was the first deputy to reach out when a new officer joined his night shift, and he was the one who would answer the call and listen when someone was having trouble on the job or at home, Cockrum said.
Gumm had a silly side, too. He could persuade his fellow deputies to join him on stage for a rousing karaoke song and would be fast with a quip that Pabst Blue Ribbon was “too fine of a beer to pour into a glass.”
The deputy, shot to death Jan. 24 while chasing a suspect wanted in connection with a fight, was remembered with laughter and tears Friday during a two-hour service at Flatirons Community
Church in Lafayette. His father, Jim, along with four deputies, a Denver Police Department officer and Sheriff Michael McIntosh gave eulogies that recounted an adventurous, passionate life.
Gumm, 31, had served at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office since 2012, and his goal was to become a detective. Because of that, McIntosh on Friday designated Gumm an honorary detective and gave his family a new badge signifying the rank.
Gumm was a leader on his patrol shift, and his colleagues have been telling stories about his heroics as an officer over the past week, McIntosh said. Many of the stories involved the “warrior” side of policing. But Gumm also served with a guardian mentality for Adams County, the sheriff said.
“A lot of the time, what you don’t find is the deep caring and compassion,” McIntosh said. “Heath had a true concern for the community he served.”
Thousands of law enforcement officers from as far away as New York City gathered with the Gumm family to pay respects and to listen to stories about a man who knew how to have fun but also was a serious, dedicated deputy. Hundreds of them escorted his hearse to the church in a funeral procession that stretched for miles along Interstate 25.
Once inside the church, Gumm’s casket was carried into the sanctuary by an honor guard as Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” played.
Before and after the service, pictures of Gumm throughout his life flashed across a video screen — a kid in a Ninja Turtles costume, a boy and his sister in dressed up for a family portrait, a smiling man wearing a dark suit and a Kelly green tie on his wedding day, a man relaxing under a waterfall with his wife and a smiling family at Disneyland.
Jim Gumm, a retired South Metro Fire Rescue engineer, remembered his son’s ability to be cute and funny to avoid trouble, his love of animals and his fondness for teasing his sister. The Gumms raised their son to be honest, strong and compassionate and to have integrity, he said.
“You soared above us,” Jim Gumm said. “You always made us so proud.”
Natasha Boettcher remembered her husband in a letter that was read by Jim Gumm.
She called her husband “my shining light” and a protector of his family.
“In our lives, we were always looking for the next adventure — big or small,” the letter said. “I’m losing the Lewis to my Clark.”
Gumm’s colleagues assured Boettcher that she also was his shining light, speaking of how he bragged when she graduated from nursing school. He was proud of her compassion for helping others and always looked forward to their next adventure, Deputy Lonn Trail said.
“There was never a day that he didn’t speak of you,” Trail said.
The service also included calls for an end to violence on Colorado’s streets, with Jim Gumm imploring the officers in attendance to “please be careful.” Gumm’s death was the second among Colorado law enforcement in less than a month; Douglas County sheriff’s Deputy Zackari Parrish was shot and killed Dec. 31 while trying to take a man into custody on a mental health hold.
And, in a letter to her husband, Boettcher pleaded: “For every one out there, I beg of you, can we please end these awful, senseless tragedies.”