PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — The community gathered on Saturday night to remember Pierce County Deputy Kent Mundell on the anniversary of his death.
Mundell was killed 10 years ago. He and his partner, Sgt. Nick Hausner, were shot by a domestic violence suspect near Eatonville.
After a week on life support, Mundell died on December 28, 2009.
“The cry of a mother’s heart is that the sacrifice of their child would never be forgotten so this is just an affirmation that though he’s gone, his sacrifice has not been in vain,” said Patricia Stafford, Mundell’s mother.
His law enforcement family, relatives and friends stood in the cold outside the South Hill Precinct to honor his service and sacrifice.
Mundell left behind a wife and two children. His daughter was 16 when he was killed, now she’s 26. Kirsten Amos told KIRO-7 she hadn’t been to a vigil in years, but knew she had to this year. She also knew Deputy Cooper Dyson who died when his car crashed last Saturday. He was on his way to help a deputy at a domestic violence call.
Amos is training for a career in law enforcement and met Dyson on Thanksgiving when she was doing a ride-along with another deputy.
She reached out to Dyson’s widow to offer her support and comfort.
“It’s a little club of fallen officers’ spouses and kids and we’re all there for each other,” said Kirsten Amos, Deputy Mundell’s daughter.
When she got married a close family friend, a Seattle police detective, walked her down the aisle. During the traditional father-daughter dance, her father’s friends in blue one after another cut in to do what he could not.
Now she’s ready to wear a uniform of her own.
“It’s hard, but I know he’d be proud of me,” said Amos.