Remembering Cpl. Scott Gardner

It was his sole goal.

John “Scott” Gardner wanted to be a police officer.

“He did that as quickly as he could,” Deputy Chief Don Orren said.

And did a good job of it too, according to Orren.

“Scott was a fine man. He was a fine officer,” said the deputy chief who supervised Gardner for two years.

“He was a caring officer who loved his job — everything about it,” Orren said. “He cared about the citizens of our community very deeply.”

Gardner was gunned down Saturday night when he and two other officers responded to a domestic disturbance in western Odessa. Cpl. Arlie Jones was also killed in the shooting, and Cpl. Abel Marquez was critically injured.

Gardner’s brother, Jack, an Odessa firefighter, said Monday that the family’s not ready to talk about their loss.

That pain extends to his brothers in blue, as well.

Gardner, a 1995 Permian High graduate, started at the Odessa Police Department in Animal Control, where he served several years before he was badged as a police officer in April 2003.

Cheryl Brom, Animal Control manager, declined to comment Monday but said the deaths have been difficult.

“We’re a really tight-knit group,” she said.

Odessa City public information officer Andrea Goodson, whose husband, Craig, is an Odessa police officer, was still reeling Monday from the loss.

“I had the honor of knowing both Scott and Arlie as both police officers and friends,” she said through tears.

Goodson said Jones visited her in the hospital when her daughter was born and Gardner came to her house to help her husband with projects.

“They were amazing men who I’d trust my life with,” she said. “They’d always be there for us. It’s a tremendous loss for the City of Odessa and the Odessa Police Department.”

The grief. That’s the hard part. Goodson said she knows that.

“The easy part is remembering them,” she said.

Funeral services for Cpl. John "Scott" Gardner have been set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church.