About 2,000 people attended a public service this morning in Denver for the Adams County prosecutor shot and killed last week.
Prosecutors, attorneys, police officers, friends and family came close to filling the orchestra section of the Buell Theatre, where the 90-minute-plus service for Sean May was held.
Among those who addressed the gathering were Adams County District Attorney Don Quick, May’s boss; and Gov. Bill Ritter, former Denver district attorney.
Both praised May’s commitment to his job, which included working in a crimes-against-children unit.
“A prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict,” Quick said. “That is why Sean came to us.”
May, 37, was shot in the head and abdomen Aug. 27 at about 6:20 p.m. outside his northwest Denver home.
Witnesses reported seeing a man in his late teens or early 20s running from the scene of the shooting in the 3300 block of West 36th Avenue.
Investigators have not disclosed a motive in the shooting, whether it was connected to his work as a district attorney or whether it was random.
May, who was with the Adams County district attorney’s office for seven years, is survived by his wife, Corin, who is six months pregnant with their first child.
Ritter ordered that flags across the state be flown at half-staff today to honor May.
Contributions may be made to the Sean May Memorial Fund, c/o Wells Fargo Bank.
Ritter told the gathering that May answered a “calling” to a “higher purpose” as a district attorney.
“Today, we remember him as answering this higher calling,” Ritter told May’s family and friends, who sat in the first few rows just below the Buell’s stage. “I want to thank you.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
