Do you expect a popular restaurant to be packed with diners and teeming with people?
Do you also expect a popular restaurant to have a proper system for guests waiting to be seated?
One family visiting Texas Roadhouse in Dallas were not expecting to have a different encounter.
But what they thought would be a bad experience turned out to be one of the most memorable nights of their life.
Flickr/Mike Mozart
When they walked inside Texas Roadhouse, the family was initially pleased to see that there was one booth free of diners.
They thought they would be able to get the seat right away but the hostess denied them the empty booth.
Confused, the family tried to look at why they were told no one was supposed to take the empty booth.
Was it reserved for a VIP?
Would these people be coming by at any moment?
Upon closer look, something different was on the table.
It was not arranged like any other booths at the restaurant.
There was a tabletop placement for five people.
Each placement had the name of the guest so that other diners would know who they are.
Flickr/pointnshoot
Behind the table was the American flag and the Texas state flag.
Next to it was a note, which clearly explained why this booth had to be open but empty.
After reading the note, the family realized that the guests waiting to be seated at this special area were not just VIPs, they were the Texan hero cops who were killed in the line of duty.
Officers Michael J. Smith, Michael Krol, Patrick Zamarripa, Lorne Ahrens, and police staff Brent Thompson were gunned down by a sniper who caused a terror in Dallas in 2016.
Facebook/Ohio Going Blue
Apparently, the restaurant was honoring the five heroes in the best way possible.
So, the family who was denied the table took a photo of their booth to share on social media. It quickly went viral.
The story goes that one night in July in Dallas, police officers were making sure that a protest would proceed peacefully in the streets.
But around 9 p.m. on July 7, a gunman open fired and kept taking a shot at white police cops.
The police tried to find the sniper to make their arrest but the man was elusive.
The manhunt lasted for several hours amid gunfires.
Eventually, however, the cops were able to corner the sniper in one building but he stayed on his spot for several hours as he spoke with negotiators.
He confessed that he was targeting just the white policemen.
But the active shooter met his ultimate end when the Dallas Police Department’s Bomb Squad planted a device to where the perpetrator hid.
They used a robot to detonate the bomb that would kill the active shooter.
But when the smoke cleared and the tension has settled, the Dallas Police Department counted five police offers dead, nine officers wounded and two civilians injured.
So, every July 7th, Texans remember and honor these five brave men.
While tributes happen at City Hall, establishments like the Texas Roadhouse, set up their own memorials for these fallen heroes.
