COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Friends and family are remembering an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy who was killed in the line of duty Monday.
Deputy Micah Flick died when a suspect opened fire outside an apartment complex, shooting three El Paso County sheriff’s deputies, a Colorado Springs police detective and a bystander.
Jon Taylor met Flick when he the two were in third grade. They grew up together and played high school football.
“I consider him a brother and a family member. I was talking to my parents about it last night and they consider him a son,” Taylor said.
Taylor still can’t believe Flick is gone. Neither can Mike Hestermann.
“I first met him in 1997. I was his middle school principal,” Hestermann said.
Hestermann was also one of Flick’s football coaches, a man charged with teaching Flick. However, the roles are now reversed.
Hestermann is learning from his former student as he reflects on the way Flick approached life, his job and his family.
“You know you’re successful as a teacher when your students teach you, and so basically I’m having an opportunity to learn from Micah,” he said.
Taylor and Hestermann, as well as Flick’s former colleagues, are tasked with passing down those lessons learned, making sure his 7-year-old children know who their father was and what he stood for.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear a mom and a wife explain to the children that dad’s been killed and he’s now with Jesus. How do you do that?” El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder said.
“They’re going to remember him and who he was and I can’t imagine telling them their father`s gone. It crushes me,” Taylor said.