KANAB – A memorial ceremony took place Tuesday night to commemorate the installation of a cross that has been erected in memory of Kane County Sheriff Deputy Brian Harris, who was killed in the line of duty in 2010.

“It’s been exactly four years today since he’s been killed,” Kane County Sheriff Lamont Smith said Tuesday.

Every year on Aug. 26, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office hosts a get-together in honor of Harris, who was shot and killed while pursuing a burglary suspect in 2010.

“This year is a little more special because we’re putting up his cross,” Smith said.

A cross bearing Harris’ name was placed Monday on private property at the junction of U.S. Highway 89A and Kaneplex Drive, near the Kanab welcome sign and the turnoff to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office building.

Rep. Don Ipson was among those present at the ceremony. He is the person in charge of roadside memorials for fallen officers in Utah, Smith said, and has the crosses made at his own expense for fallen officers throughout the state.

The U.S. Marshals Service was also represented at the ceremony, and officers from neighboring Coconino County in Arizona, along with officers from Hurricane and other nearby areas, also traveled to Kanab to attend the memorial and to honor Harris. Harris’ family members were present, as well.

During the ceremony, an officer from Coconino County presented Harris’ wife, Shawna, with a commemorative shadowbox and a jersey from a fallen officer memorial ride he participated in earlier this year in honor of Harris.

“He rode in that bike ride for Brian in Brian’s name,” Kane County Sheriff Det. Dan Watson said.

The shooter responsible for Harris’ death, Scott Curley – a resident of Fredonia, Arizona, at the time – evaded officers for four days after killing Harris. Curley was finally apprehended in the desert near the Utah-Arizona border. He was later sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for Harris’ murder.

Harris’ wife and daughters still reside in Kane County, in a home built for them through community donations after Harris was killed.

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