“We really love our community so we just showed up to serve and just be here,” Dillon Smith said at Friday night’s candlelight vigil and prayers for two police officers shot, one fatally, in the line of duty Tuesday night.

Shortly after the prayer service ended, police released a photo of wounded Officer Albert Morin giving two thumbs up from his Huntsville Hospital bed surrounded by Police Chief Kirk Giles and top officers of the police department. Morin was answering a domestic call with partner Officer Garrett Crumby when both were shot. Crumby died from his wounds but Morin is expected to recover. A suspect in the shooting is in custody.

Smith’s minister, Rusty Nelson of The Rock Family Worship Center, was one of the ministers praying at the service and Smith said he also came to support Nelson. Kenneth Golden, another person in the crowd, had a different reason for being there. His son, Huntsville Police Officer Daniel Golden, died in the line of duty after being shot responding to another domestic call in 2005.

More than 100 people ignored threatening rain clouds to stand together holding candles and praying in front of the Municipal Justice & Public Safety Complex on Wheeler Avenue. City leaders including Mayor Tommy Battle and City Councilman Bill Kling were there but did not speak. Many in the crowd lingered after the service to talk and be close to others with ties to and support for the police force.

“It’s very important for me to be here for him and for the police officers,” Patti Anderson of Huntsville said of Crumby and other officers. Crumby was related to her son-in-law by marriage.

“My husband is a police officer. His name is Cody Medford,” attendee Alanah Medford said. “We’re just here to support the guys he works with.”

“I’m so sorry for this,” Leigh Mayhall of Huntsville said simply. “It’s unbelievable.”

The prayer service itself was brief with a Bible reading and prayer by a police chaplain and prayers by ministers from several Huntsville churches. Funeral services for Crumby will be Monday at 10:30 a.m. at Mayfair Church of Christ, 1095 Carl T Jones Drive, and visitation is at the church Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Burial will follow the Monday service in Tuscaloosa at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park.