Thousands warmly reclaiming officer hailed as bar shooting hero

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – The sheriff's sergeant who gave his life saving others during a mbad shooting last week was remembered warmly .

Several thousand people, including hundreds of law enforcers from all over California, packed the Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village for the emotional, 90-minute service honoring the life of Ron Helus.

The 54-year-old sheriff's sergeant was shot to death during a Nov. 7 gunfight with a man who was raking a popular Southern California country bar with bullets when Helus ran in to try to stop him.

The gunman killed 12 people before shooting himself to death. But authorities say Helus – the first officer into the bar – and the other one, exchanging gunfire with the shooter, giving the bosses and employees time to flee.

Among Billy Ray Cyrus, who's been told by the musician, "I'm probably going to change the definition of hero."

Then, accompanying himself on guitar, Cyrus dedicated his song "Some Gave All" to Helus, singing the words, "Some of the stars of the world, white and blue. of your liberties, and recall, some gave all. "

The emotional message left the audience in silence until Pastor Steven Day said, "If you'd like to, you can thank him," and the crowd erupted in applause. The audience had also given Helus a standing ovation at the beginning of the service.

Mourners included hundreds of officers from the state who stood solemnly outside the church hall as the 54-year-old sheriff's sergeant's flag-draped coffin was wheeled inside. Each offered a crisp salute as it pbaded by, then joined up with hundreds of other mourners inside.

Still more people, many people who had never met Helus, stood outside in the parking lot or lined nearby streets. Others lingered by a huge makeshift memorial featuring flowers, messages and stuffed animals.

"Said Peter Orr of Malibu, who has been staying in his home town California's ongoing wildfires. He took off work Thursday to pay his respects.

Inside the church, Day told stories by Helus' friends, family and co-workers.

They described an avid fisherman, hiker and dirt biker rider who loved his family, and his 24-year-old son, Jordan. A niece, Lauren Smith recalls how Helus helped teach her to drive, letting her get behind the wheel of her truck, she said, "Let's just keep this secret."

Although the 29-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department took on some of the agency's toughest badignments, working in SWAT, narcotics and investigations, the company said it could not be easier.

Sometimes, said Day, he'd pull someone over for a minor traffic violation and explain to them what they'd done wrong.

"Then, with his pad in his hand and his pen, he'd say 'OK, you tell me a good joke and I will not write you a ticket.' "

Other times it's approaching, this avid dirt biker just wanted to look under the hoods and check out their engines. His real reason, Day explained, was to give them a chance to get to know a sheriff's deputy.

Who wrote about him, "If you called him a hero, he'd probably laugh at you and say he was doing his job."

His wife, Karen, called him her personal hero.

"You were my husband and you were always one of those who made me laugh," she wrote.

The two had a college anatomy clbad when Helus helped her dissect a cat. He would ask her to marry him when they went to a popular restaurant in Thousand Oaks called Charlie Brown's.

This restaurant has been transitioned into a country bar called the Borderline Bar and Grill, the place packed with young people on last week's "college night" when a gunman opened fire and Helus ran in to save them.

"Well done, faithful servant," "Karen Helus told her husband.

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