SAN ANTONIO — Prayers and notes of sympathy are pouring in for a Comal County Sheriff's deputy killed in a car crash on Thursday in Schertz.
"This is a loss, you never believe that it’s going to happen to your agency,” Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds Sheriff said.
It was more than a rainy and gloomy day at the Comal County Sheriff's Office on Friday, inside the air felt thick and the pain palpable, as many coped with the loss of deputy Ray Horn.
"There was that empty space," Sheriff Reynolds said. "I know all of them, so when you walk the hall and you talk to people on a daily basis it means something. You know, they are just not badge numbers. I know them, I know their families."
A family he says unites as one and came even closer Thursday evening.
Sheriff Reynolds said Horn was on his way home from work in a patrol car when the three-car crash happened on Dimrock Blvd. and FM 3009.
"As the witness stated, that he appeared to be having a medical episode," Sheriff Reynolds said. “He hit another car head-on and then a third vehicle was involved.”
Horn was pronounced dead at NE Methodist Hospital. The other driver is was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Horn dedicated 11 years to keeping the community safe at the Comal Sheriff's Office.
"He's a character, always had a smile on his face," Sheriff Reynolds said. "Always a really chipper personality and we’re going to miss that."
He says it's one loss too many, one loss too close, as the community in blue comes together to show support.
"Not only did they show up, but they helped transport him, that's the blue line,” Sheriff Reynolds said. “I don’t know that we will ever completely deal with it but [their support] will help.”
There will be a viewing at Zoellers Funeral Home in New Braunfels this Thursday from 5-9pm.
The funeral will be this Friday at 10:00am at Tree of Life Church in New Braunfels with burial to follow at Guadalupe Valley Memorial.