CHILHOWIE, Va. – Friends and family of slain Virginia State Trooper Lucas Dowell are finding strength within one another. Dowell is now the 66th trooper to die in the line of duty.
This comes as a bill moves to the governor's desk that would stiffen penalties for killing a law enforcement officer. The minimum is life in prison, the maximum is the death penalty.
Monday's incident happened in Farmville but Dowell is from our area. The pain is still incredibly real and raw for so many people. Friends find the entire thing so hard to believe because Dowell was only 28 years old. Tuesday night, a procession fit for a hero carried his body home and Wednesday community members did what they could to honor his legacy.
It was a somber salute for a hero's homecoming after a drug raid outside Farmville went terribly wrong.
Alyssa King grew up with Lucas Dowell. She says she knew him as a person who was always smiling.
"He was always laughing and it didn't matter how serious the situation was, he had everyone laughing too," King said. "He cared for everyone, whether he knew you or not."
Dowell graduated the state police academy in 2014. It was a job that King said was his calling.
"He always talked about being a US Marshal or working for the FBI," King said. "When we were little we would play with guns and pretend that we were FBI agents."
On the Senate floor in Richmond, Senator Bill Carrico became emotional while delivering a message about the slain trooper. Carrico is a former trooper himself and said Dowell was a friend.
"He's the true image of a state trooper," Carrico said on the floor. "He had impeccable character, was an outstanding athlete, was a great brother to his sister Erica."
Back in Chilhowie, messages throughout the town are reflective of that, including signs along major streets. It's a small gesture for the biggest sacrifice and his friends still find it hard to believe he's gone.
"The first thing I did was look back at my phone, and I realized he never opened the last message I sent him; it's just kind of hard to really grasp that he was gone," King said.