The two officers killed during a routine traffic stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi had been fulfilling their lifelong ambitions, according to their families.
Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, died Saturday night after they were shot on the street at around 8:30pm.
Deen, who was a decorated K-9 officer, was named officer of the year in 2012.
"He was a very good cop. He loved his family, he loved his job," Deen's father told the Daily News. "He did his job to the best of his ability."
Deen leaves behind a wife and two children, a 9-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. He reportedly always spoke highly of his partner, Liquori Tate, who had just joined the police force in June of last year.
"I graduated the Police Academy today. I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love[d] ones," Tate wrote in a Facebook post last year.
Tate's family said the rookie's father, who was in the military, inspired him to become a police officer.
The two officers succumbed to their injuries at a hospital after conducting a routine traffic stop at the corner of Gordon Street and Bouie Street.
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