DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 2,000 family, friends and public safety officers gathered at a West Des Moines church to honor one of two Des Moines police officers killed in a head-on crash. The Des Moines Register reports it has been a difficult time for the family of Carlos Puente-Morales, who died with officer Susan Farrell Saturday in a crash with a wrong-way driver.

During the Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Bishop Richard Pates acknowledged the family’s great loss in the past 16 months. Puente-Morales’ brother died in a November 2014 traffic accident and their father died months later.

Puente-Morales had worked as an officer in Ottumwa before moving to Des Moines police. A prisoner being transported by the officers and the other driver were also killed.