FORREST CITY, Ark. – About 100 people attended a community prayer Wednesday night for the two officers who were shot and wounded Monday at a Forrest City Walmart.
Among those who packed Ridgewood Baptist Church was St. Francis County Sheriff Deputy Tommy Watlington, the brother of one of the wounded officers and a regular church member.
Watlington said his brother, Eugene Watlington, is still in the hospital recovering after being shot twice.
“He actually sat up a little bit today,” Watlington said.
Although he said his brother has been shot in the line of duty before, he said the outpouring of support from the community has been a godsend.
“It’s tough, I mean, if I didn’t have the prayer and my community backing me, I don’t know what we’d do,” Watlington said.
For Pastor Jim Whaley, it wasn’t even a question.
“A tragedy like this, the community needs a mechanism to come together to cope,” Whaley said.
In addition to prayer, there was also plenty of gratitude at Wednesday’s event for the deputies and police officers who attended.
“It’s so important. They protect us, they guard us, they take care of us,” resident Pat Hawkins said.
Whaley said several Forrest City churches canceled their Wednesday night services so their members could attend Ridgewood’s event.