Slain DART Officer Was a Newlywed

Just two weeks after her wedding day, Brent Thompson's bride is now a widow. Thompson, 43, was one of five police officers shot and killed in Dallas on Thursday and the first Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer killed in the line of duty since the agency was created in 1989. Previously divorced and living in Corsicana, Texas, Thompson—also a father and grandfather—was in "great spirits from his recent marriage" to a fellow DART officer, DART's chief tells Today. "This is very heartbreaking," he adds. "We will definitely miss him, and we are also making sure that his family is taken care of."

Thompson had expressed support for Police Lives Matter on Facebook, reports the New York Times. In May, he shared a meme featuring a scene from Eastbound & Down in which a character plays Candlebox's "Far Behind" before a eulogy, along with the caption, "When I die, my friends better do this at my funeral," reports the Daily Beast. Before joining DART in 2009, Thompson worked for a military contractor training police officers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also taught at Texas' Navarro Police Academy, his alma mater, reports USA Today. Three injured DART officers are expected to recover. (More Dallas police shooting stories.)