Loved ones remember FWC Officer Julian Keen during memorial brick laying

On Monday morning, the friends and family of FWC Officer Julian Keen joined the Southwest Florida Public Service Academy to honor his legacy three years after Keen was killed off-duty while trying to stop a reckless driver.

Keen, a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Officer, was inside his LaBelle home with a friend when they heard a loud crash. They looked outside and saw a black truck leaving the scene of a collision. Keen and his friend gave chase. In the aftermath, the driver, Eliceo Hernandez, shot and killed Keen.

The Southwest Florida Public Service Academy added a 45th memorial brick in Keen’s honor. His family tells WINK News that time does not heal all wounds.

“We had a 16-year-old and a 5-year-old at the time; now they’re 8 and 19… it’s hard to explain to a 5-year-old, ‘Your brother isn’t coming home,'” said Mona O’Bannon. “She still, until this day, wakes up crying and missing him. It’s hard enough for us to go through, then dealing with a child… it’s really hard.”

Mona and Patrick O’Bannon knew Keen as a kid. Patrick even served as his football coach. Later, they became family.

“He was our son; he came to live with us straight out of high school,” Patrick O’Bannon said. “I was his football coach. I don’t know, he picked us. He called us Mom and Dad; that’s all I needed to know.”

Family, friends, and co-workers gathered in the garden outside the Academy to pay respects to Ken’s sacrifice. Family members laid roses over his name. His loved ones say his legacy of service will live on.

Earlier in March, a Hendry County jury convicted 23-year-old Eliceo Hernandez of second-degree murder for killing Julian Keen. Hernandez’s sentencing for Thursday.