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Home Depot Employees Show Support During Santander Procession

ROCKWALL, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The procession for fallen officer Rogelio Santander following his memorial service passed a Home Depot moments after pulling from the parking lot.

"The associates at Home Depot, we say, bleed orange, and today we're also bleeding blue," said store manager Cindy Sabo.

Most of the employees from the Rockwall location left work briefly to line to the procession route. Nearly two dozen people, in their orange, Home Depot aprons held American flags and wore blue ribbons.

Home Depot employees at Santander procession
Home Depot employees lining the route for Officer Santander. (credit: Dan Haggerty/CBS 11 News)

"I'll be thinking about his family, and how they must feel," said Assistant Manager Mike Amos. "I'll be praying for them."

Amos worked at the store in Northeast Dallas where the shooting happened, for three years before transferring to the Rockwall location.

"I've been in that hallway," said Amos. "I've been in that office, that area where it happened. I can picture myself there."

Home Depot management in Rockwall said that most local employees train together, spend time in other stores, and know each other quite well, even if they're based in different cities.

"Things aren't going to be the same for a long time," said Sabo. "For someone to come in there and do such a terrible thing… it weighs very hard and heavy."

Officer-Rogelio-Santander
Officer Rogelio Santander

Officer Santander was shot and killed by a shoplifting suspect on April 24.

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