Hundreds of mourners attended a Monday funeral service for an Alabama police officer who was fatally shot while helping a neighboring department with a car chase.

Kimberly Police Officer Nick O’Rear, 33, was killed in a confrontation that authorities said began on interstate 65. O’Rear was assisting officers from another department with a pursuit when the driver who was fleeing shot him, authors said.

O’Rear always dreamed of being a police officer and that dream began in his home of St. Clair County. In July of 2018, O’Rear graduated from the police academy and wore the badge of the Ashville Police Department proudly.

In an interview done with ABC News, Ashville Police Chief Ed Hampton said, “His heart was into being a police officer 100%.” O’Rear was with the department for only a year before moving to the Kimberly Police Department. Hampton described O’Rear as always eager to learn.

O’Rear had been with the Kimberly Police department about a year. He was the father of two children, and had another on the way, Kimberly Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said.

Preston Chyenne Johnson, 37, was charged with capital murder, attempted murder of a police officer and firing a gun at police.