Last Words

If you have to go, then go good. This is a tragic story – a police officer in San Diego, California, was shot in an unprovoked attack while sitting in his car in traffic. He died the next morning. Not only was Jeremy Henwood serving his public at home, but he’d also served in Iraq. His sister described him as “a great man and a hero to our country.”

What makes Jeremy stand out a little more than other heroes, maybe, is the remarkable footage of those last few minutes before his ordinary day took a terrible turn. A security camera happened to catch Jeremy inside a local McDonald’s restaurant. Thus we know that the last thing he ever did in his life was buy food for a child he’d never met before.

It happened like this: Thirteen-year-old Davian Tinsley asked Jeremy for ten cents, because he didn’t have enough cash for the three cookies he wanted. Jeremy’s response? “He said, ‘Well, I can buy the three cookies for you,’” Davian recalled in a television interview. Jeremy asked Davian what he wanted to be when he grew up. When Davian told him he aspired to be an NBA star, the man passed on fatherly advice: “He said, ‘Well, you gotta work hard for that,” and I said, ‘Thank you.’”

They were Jeremy’s last words.

Davien was stunned to find out that the “good guy” who behaved kindly toward him is now gone forever. But this 13-year-old boy will likely draw on the lessons he learned. As for Jeremy Henwood, he may have left a gaping hole in the lives of his loved ones, but it’s also clear he left a legacy.