BONNE TERRE, Mo. — Raelyn Winick has enjoyed singing for a long time.
However, there was nothing fun or easy about performing at Slaughterhouse Bar and Restaurant in Park Hills Thursday night.
"I am still in shock," said Winick.
That's because she's suddenly mourning her friend: 30-year-old Bonne Terre Patrolman Lane Burns.
"Growing up he was like my brother and protector even when he was in the police academy," said Winick.
Bonne Terre is a small community of about seven thousand people.
When folks heard Patrolman Burns was shot and killed early Thursday morning and Corporal Garrett Worley was critically wounded while on the job, the news hit hard.
"It was very heartbreaking. It was not the text I wanted to get up to this morning," Raelyn said.
Despite the sadness and pain, she and others are stepping in to help.
Raelyn donated all of her tips to support the family of Lane Burns.
"I am going to have a hard time going in there performing, but it's for Lane and Garrett," said Winick.
At Off Road Nutrition, owner Zack Nash and his wife are also sending portions of their proceeds to the families of both officers.
Zack is a former Madison County, Illinois Sheriff's deputy.
"It affects the entire community. This is just a terrible, terrible thing and we want to just be a part of the community and help out in any way we can," said Zack Nash.
"It's just so tough on all of us," said Dawn Chapman, a longtime friend of Corporal Garrett Worley.
"Garrett would do anything for you," said Chapman.
Meantime, several residents tied blue and black balloons and ribbons around light poles, businesses, and signs around town in honor of the two police officers they call "heroes" and remember their hurting loved ones.
"They do put their lives on the line for each of us every day and they don't have to do it. To me, that is what a true hero is. When in need, we all come together," said Raelyn Winick.
"I just pray for the officers and their families and hope that they can get through this," said Zack Nash.
As of Thursday evening, Corporal Garrett Worley was out of surgery and recovering at a St. Louis hospital.