LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Scott County chaplain opened the funeral service with a prayer that resonated through the gymnasium.
The prayer being for Scott County Sheriff's Deputy Caleb Conley, a man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop on I-75.
His death is still too difficult to accept, much less understand, but his mother finds solace in her son living a dream he first found not long after he learned to walk.
"Since the age of three he would desire to be a police officer like his father and his uncle, so we made him a brown uniform," Caleb's mother Jolene Conley said.
He wore that uniform proudly both as a child and as a full-time officer.
Caleb's fellow officers said his work ethic was unmatched. His sergeant now finds regret in all of the extra shifts he asked Caleb to work, realizing that was time taken from his family.
"I think of the hours I aided in stealing from them, and I am eternally sorry. I truly am," Sgt. Robert Tackett, with the Scott County Sheriff's Office, said.
But would Caleb have chosen something different?
Jolene says she's not so sure -- his ambition was to serve.
"He was living his dreams," she said. "Now that dream has come to an end."
Officials said Caleb leaves behind a wife and two children. A GoFundMe was shared by the sheriff's department on social media to help support Caleb's family.
Donations can also be made at any Whitaker Bank location and drop off donations to the "Deputy Conley Memorial Fund." They accept cash and checks made out to the fund.
The suspect, Steven Sheangshang, was arrested and charged with the murder of a police officer, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, burglary, theft of an automobile, wanton endangerment, and fleeing/evading police in Scott County.
He is also facing separate charges in Fayette County for his alleged connection to a shooting and car theft at a Lexington bar.
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