DALLAS — Those closest to fallen Officer Darron Burks will tell you one thing he loved to do was workout. At a statuesque 6’4”, he was very focused on his health and fitness, and it wasn’t out of the ordinary to catch him working up a sweat with Theo Murdaugh and the large community at Run It Up Dallas.
“Everybody knew him. Good energy, good spirit,” Murdaugh said. “He used to host these track workouts at 630 would always try to invite me out there in the middle of the summer, dead of the heat.”
Murdaugh says when Burks came out, his presence was always known.
“Just loud, very loud, very energetic,” he said.
He met Burks four years ago when he started the run club, and even though they’re a part of two different fraternities, they forged a brotherhood.
“He's always, always talking trash about me being an Alpha,” Murdaugh said. “He would always give me this hard handshake and dap me up real hard. I'm like, man, come on, I'm scared of you can't be, you can be bringing me in like that.”
When he got the call Burks had been ambushed and shot on duty, it hit him and the Run It Up Dallas community hard.
“It doesn't feel real still, you know. I mean, I literally saw him not too long ago, he dapped me up,” Murdaugh said.
In the days since Thursday’s shooting, they’ve hosted more runs. Some in the group have used them as a means to cope.
“One of his fraternity brothers came to the run on Sunday and he ran through our cheer line and he threw up the Omega hooks and you just saw the look on his face and how broken he was,” Murdaugh said.
They’re now planning to host a larger event.
“We're having a run on Sept. 14 at Fair Oaks Park,” Murdaugh said. “We would love to have the Dallas Police Department to come out, his fraternity brothers to come out.”
It’s a chance for those who loved Burks and are hurting to run through their emotions..
“He was just a good guy and it just, it sucks that this happened to somebody that's just that good of a person and that impacted a lot of people out here,” Murdaugh said.