CDC shooting: Ohio artist sketches portrait of slain DeKalb officer
Good Day Atlanta at 6:00 AM
Artist Ron Moore, who lives in Ohio, has created a portrait of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, killed while responding to attack on CDC in Atlanta. Moore has created hundreds of portraits of victims, including more than 400 portraits of victims of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.
ATLANTA - An Ohio-based artist is honoring the memory of fallen DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose with a heartfelt gift for his family.
Officer Rose was critically injured as he was responding the reports of an active shooter near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in metro Atlanta last week. Rose was pronounced deceased shortly after at Emory University Hospital.
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What we know:
Ron Moore Jr., who lives with Parkinson’s disease, was diagnosed in 2004 and lost his ability to create art. Six years later, he says his prayers were answered, and he regained the ability to draw — a gift he now uses to comfort families of gun violence victims.
Moore began working on a detailed portrait of Officer Rose late Sunday night, resuming early Monday morning.
After 20 to 25 hours, the lifelike sketch — which Moore calls a tribute to a "double hero" — was complete and ready to be delivered to Georgia. He says his motivation comes from a place of love, aiming to give Officer Rose’s family something they can hold on to and cherish forever.
The backstory:
Since the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 60 people (58 on the night of the shooting and two more victims who died later), Moore has created more than 450 portraits for families of victims.
RELATED: Ohio man draws portraits of Las Vegas shooting victims
His recent work includes drawings honoring the two students and two teachers killed in last year’s Apalachee High School shooting, which were displayed at the large memorial outside the school.
RELATED: Ohio-based artist sketches tribute to Apalachee High School shooting victims