Mother of slain Harris County deputy says she never thought his 37th birthday would be his last

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a Harris County sheriff deputy who was shot and killed, says the reality of losing her son still hasn't set in yet.

Precinct 3 Deputy Omar Ursin was driving home in Atascocita when the shooting happened.

"I feel like a string. A string, like, a kite string, I feel like that I'm holding on to the last string before it goes up in the air, because it's so heartbreaking that I don't have my child anymore," Yvonne Ursin said.

She has lost her oldest child and only son.

SEE ALSO: What we know about Harris Co. Pct. 3 Constable Deputy Omar Ursin killed while driving home

"We celebrated my baby's 37th birthday Friday night at the Taste of Texas," she said. "He sat at one end of the table, his father sat at the other end of the table and we had a great time. No way, I thought that I would be celebrating my baby's last birthday."

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said on Aug. 28, someone shot Deputy Omar Ursin near Madera Run Parkway and Timber Forest at about 6:30 p.m., as he had just picked up food for his family.

Before leaving the house that day, he asked his mother if she wanted to go to the store.

"I question myself," Yvonne Ursin said. "I said, 'If I had let Omar take me to the store, would I have been in the car with him when it happened?'"

SEE ALSO: Off-duty Harris Co. Pct. 3 deputy shot and killed while driving home in Atascocita

As the questions linger, Omar Ursin's absence is heavily felt. The family has reached out to the community for help supporting his little girl.

"We don't want her to change her life," Yvonne Ursin said. "Just because she doesn't have a daddy anymore, we want to be able to make sure that she's happy and she can do all those things to keep her little mind going."

Yvonne Ursin said people are helping out financially through a GoFundMe, and even telling the family everything they know about what happened.

"I really appreciate them, because a lot of times people don't like to get involved. But, they did come and say what they saw and what could they do," she said.

The sheriff's office said it's following all leads, and calls the loss of the 6-year veteran devastating. All as his mother comes to terms with life without her son.

"Every day, I go through his pictures from the time he was born until the time he left me," Yvonne Ursin said. "To look at that smile, I feel up until today, I feel that this was just a bad dream and he was going to be coming in the door."