Christmas tree decorated in blue installed to honor every officer killed on duty in Indiana

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana has gone out of their way to pay tribute to the 137 police officers that the nation lost this year. The office put up a Christmas tree that was adorned with 137 blue ornaments.

One of the officers who was killed worked at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office. After the festive season is done, the office will do something extra special with the ornaments.

The blue ornaments on the Christmas tree represent the police officers who died in the line of duty. Boone County’s own Deputy Jacob Pickett is one of the 137 victims.

Boone County Senior Dispatch Officer Mike Gideon said:

“It means a lot to all of us – we were all very close. He was a wonderful officer, and it’s our way of honoring him and the other 136 officers that have been killed this year.”

For more on this story go to our Twitter account @amomama_usa. The Indiana office also made sure that each ornament was special and treated as such.

Instead of having the ornaments professionally decorated, they opted to have each one hand-written with the slain officer’s name, rank, and the end of watch date. Boone County Office Chaplain Joni Scott characterized the fallen officers as “incredible hero[s].”

Scott explained what each ornament represented:

"That's a life. That's a life that matters. That's a chair that's empty. That's a car that's not being driven. That is an incredible hero that's no longer walking our streets, so it meant something.”

Earlier this year it was reported that Pickett’s alleged murderer, Anthony Baumgardt, wouldn’t stand trial until 2020. If the suspect is convicted he faces the death penalty.

Baumgardt confessed to reporters that he was guilty, and has stated on several occasions that he felt no remorse. When the festive season is over, each ornament will be sent to the department where the officer worked.

The names of South Carolinas officers are also represented on the tree. Florence Police Sergeant Terrance Carraway and Deputy Farrah Turner of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office were some of the slain police officers.

They died on October 3 after being ambushed in an attack in Florence County. Five other officers were left injured as they were trying to serve a search warrant.

In Harris County, the sheriff's office tweeted that on Tuesday afternoon, one deputy and two officers from the Texas Attorney General's Office were wounded. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez revealed that the victim’s injuries were not life-threatening and the officers were being treated at a Houston hospital.

The officers were injured when they tried to serve Daniel Trevino a warrant. The suspect exchanged fire with the officers but he was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 6:15 p.m.