Officer Charles Irvine Jr. died after a car accident while chasing down a suspect in Milwaukee. The heroic officer was only 23 years old.
A few days after the tragedy, 12-year-old Avant Turner walked by the fallen officer's memorial outside the Police Department's District 4 station. The young boy couldn't help but notice a squad car draped in black and covered in beautiful flowers and gifts by members of the community. There were so many that Avant could barely see the car underneath.
At first, Avant didn't know who the police car belonged to, so he looked at the officer's photo placed among the flowers. A surge of shock went through his body.
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Avant knew this officer. In fact, they'd formed a bond that not many people in the neighborhood knew about.
Avant felt the impact of his friend's death more than he expected to. So, he went to school and wrote a handwritten letter. He left it at the memorial — and while the piece of regular white paper may look lost in a sea of gorgeous and colorful trinkets and bouquets, it's what Avant's note revealed that was perhaps the most personal.
