SUMMERTON — A police officer from Montana killed in the line of duty was remembered at his funeral in his native South Carolina on Tuesday as a family man who made it his life goal to help other people and gave legendary bear hugs.
Mason Moore was laid to rest in his hometown of Summerton, two weeks after he was shot by a man who court documents said was on a “suicide mission” to attack law enforcement.
Moore, 42, was so thorough and meticulous that he left a letter behind for his widow to read if he died in the line of duty. It told her that he enjoyed every minute of his life with his wife of nearly 18 years and to not let hate take over the rest of her life.
“I will be counting down the days, the hours and the seconds until I get to see him again. Love wins,” Jodi Moore said.
Moore’s fellow officers said he wanted to help people, and believed in law and order and fairness. Along with patrolling 1,200-square-mile (3,100-square-kilometer) rural Broadwater County, Montana, east of Helena, he also was a volunteer firefighter.
“I knew in his lifetime he would do great things, and I was right,” former Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett wrote in a letter read by an officer Tuesday.
Moore grew up in South Carolina and worked for the sheriff’s offices in Lexington and Clarendon counties before moving to Montana. Several deputies from Broadwater County came to South Carolina for the funeral. A service was also held last week in Montana.
Moore was trying to pull over Marshall Barrus and his father, Lloyd, on U.S. Highway 287 in Broadwater County when they shot at the deputy’s patrol car in the early morning of May 16, authorities said.
Moore’s dashboard camera shows the car stop and records silence for a few minutes before moaning and a door opening, then more shots. A trooper would find Moore dead with 20 rifle cartridges near his body and 10 more found on the highway, all from the same caliber weapon, according to court records.
Marshall Barrus was shot and killed by officers after a 100-mile (160-kilometer) chase. Lloyd Barrus was arrested and is charged with accountability for deliberate homicide and 23 other charges. He apologized in court last week to Jodi Moore and the couple’s three children.
How Moore died wasn’t mentioned at all at his funeral. Instead, colleagues including Sean Briley remembered someone who would always listen and loved to brag about his family.
Briley remembered the time he spied pink nail polish on Moore’s toes, and was told by the proud father that he was practicing nail painting for when his baby daughter Briley got older.
At the end of the church service, a recording of a little girl singing “You Are My Sunshine” was played. At the end, the high-pitched voice said “I love you, Daddy.”