ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Members of the Orange County Sheriff's Office met Tuesday for the annual remembrance ceremony of the 1984 courthouse shooting one day after a deputy and an Orlando police master sergeant were killed in the line of duty.
Dozens of Orange County deputies stood before sunrise in lines on the steps of the Orange County courthouse to remember a dark day in Central Florida history.
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"It does bring us full circle here, 33 years later, another tragic day that we had right here in Orange County," Sheriff Jerry Demings said.
As bagpipes played, deputies saluted and remembered the men who were killed and injured in a courtroom shooting on Jan. 10, 1984.
"We made a commitment to those families that we will forever honor the sacrifice of their loved ones," Demings said.
The sheriff's office said the shooter, Thomas Provenzano, then 34, smuggled weapons into court and opened fire.
.@OrangeCoSheriff Sheriff Jerry Demings placing a wreath in honor of Bailiff William "Arnie" Wilkerson @news6wkmg pic.twitter.com/RIqLPNG1Dj
— Amanda Castro (@AmandaNCastro) January 10, 2017
Bailiff William "Arnie" Wilkerson, 60, was fatally shot.
Bailiff Harry Dalton was also shot, suffered brain damage and was partially paralyzed. He died of his injuries six years later at age 60.
Orange County Corrections Officer Mark Parker, 19, was also critically injured and paralyzed. Demings said Parker lived the longest of the victims. He died in 2009.
Provenzano was executed in June 2000.
"Here I am again, 33 years, later having experienced what we just experienced yesterday again here in Orange County," Demings said.
The ceremony was even more emotional this year, one day after Orlando Police Master Sgt. Debra Clayton and Deputy Norman Lewis were killed in the line of duty.
Authorities said Clayton was fatally shot by Markeith Loyd, a fugitive accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend in December. Lewis was killed in a vehicle crash while responding to search efforts to find Loyd.
"(The ceremony) is also to remind the community of the risk involved with being a law enforcement officer in modern-day America," Demings said.
Demings said the remembrance ceremony is to make sure no one ever forgets their ultimate sacrifice.