LAFAYETTE, Colo. (KDVR) — Pastor Benjamin Chavez read a letter from Officer Dillon Vakoff’s mother at the end of his memorial service, as the 27-year-old Arvada police officer was laid to rest.

Vakoff was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11. when responding to a disturbance call in Arvada around 2:30 a.m. The suspect in the shooting was arrested with Vakoff’s handcuffs.

“Well, Dillon here we are. I received the call that since the day you were born, I was afraid to get,” Chavez read. “I know we talked at great lengths about this date. We made a pact: if you died, you had died being a heroic lion. I promised you I would accept that choice you made the honor and serve our country.”

Vakoff’s service included a six-year stint in the Air Force, and three years serving in the Arvada Police Department. He was training to be a part of the SWAT team in Arvada at the time of his death.

“Our pact was I too must be a lion,” Chavez read. “I’m trying to be your lion, Dillon, but I see so many lives that you have impacted in such an amazing way. I see the terrible sadness and void in their eyes in the grief of losing you.”

If you would like to contribute, you can donate to the Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation on this official donation page.

“I don’t want to let you down about our pact,” Chavez read. “I want to be a lion. So I will never quit and I will always try to be the person you taught me to be. My wish is that every person in this room leaves with a piece of Staff Seargent Officer Dillon Vakoff with them and chooses to do good. And today I charge you, as yourself, ‘What would Dillon do?'”