(WXYZ) — Before Detroit Police Officer Loren Courts was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2022, he worked at the second precinct.
I met his widow two days after the tragedy and she opened up about the moments following his death.
Now, nearly two years later, she is speaking to me again and telling me what her life still looks like without her husband.
Sadness and emptiness is what Kristine Courts says fills the hole left in her heart after losing her husband.
“He’s just gone. He’s just like no more," said Kristine.
VIDEO: Extended interview: “He was a phenomenal father.” Kristine Courts shares more about her late husband, Loren Courts
Loren's end of watch came on July 6, 2022. Courts was killed after responding to a shots fired call.
It was a day that Kristine says changed her forever.
“I remember getting in my car in the passenger seat and my mom's driving. And I remember looking and everybody was just going about their night, and everything felt so still for me that I was like, 'don’t they know. Don’t they know what we just lost,'" she said.
VIDEO: ‘I just felt like my life went on hold and the world just kept going.’ Kristine reflects on the moments after losing her husband:
She remembers how she felt when they did the final call.
“I literally felt like I was going to pass out," she said.
Loren’s untimely death didn’t just affect Kristine, but also their two children, Darian and Devyn.
“I think it’s been a bit rougher for her. You know kids these days can be cruel ... they will say things like or send her pictures and say that’s why you are fatherless," said Kristine.
Devyn said she misses everything about her father.
As for Loren and Kristine's oldest, Darian, he just graduated from high school.
“As soon as Darian walked in, it was like, he had a pin with his dad ... it was like a flood of emotions because Loren and I always talked about Darian’s graduation, because it was coming."
Kristine told me she never talked to Loren about the possibility of him not coming home after a shift, but he did get a tattoo about returning home every day a year before he died.
Now, the silence that Loren's absence brings has left Kristine and her children in everlasting pain and grief.
“It doesn’t, yeah it doesn’t get better. It’s not fair," she said.
