Special Agent Everett Emerson Hatcher

Mr. Hatcher,

I’ve had the privilege of calling your son a friend ever since we met in Dec 2009 at Firearms Instructor training at the FLETC in Artesia, NM. I’ll just refer to him as “Z”. We’re both Special Agents for the same DoD Agency. During our 2-weeks training in the cold/snowy desert, we formed a good friendship, and have kept in touch ever since, despite the fact that we live on opposite coasts: I’m in SoCal, and he’s in New England. But we clicked from Day 1 mainly b/c he’s got a GREAT sense of humor (which I assume he got largely from you). Also, 2 months after our NM training, “Z” and I both found out our wives were PREGNANT with our 1st kids, and then our girls were born in the same month in 2010, and then our sons in 2012. I know you’re watching over them.

“Z” didn’t tell me of your sacrifice until years later when we reunited at the FLETC in GA for our Agency’s mandatory 5-yr refresher training. I noticed his old handcuffs and said they looked unique, and that’s when he told me they were your cuffs, and that you were killed in the line of duty. He showed me the inscription on the cuffs that memorialized your EOW date. Each year when my kids’ schools recognize Red Ribbon Week in honor of your fallen brother, DEA Agent Kiki Camarena, I also think of you and your family.

Sir, you’d be so proud of ”Z”. Not only did he grow up to follow your footsteps as an LEO, but more importantly, he’s a good man: loving husband, good friend to many, and GREAT dad. He’s coaching his son’s hockey team - just like you were a coach and mentored kids. I’m blessed to call him a friend.

I don’t know what God’s plan was behind all of this, and maybe it’ll be revealed one day. The man who started this ODMP website/org, Chris Cosgriff, was a high school classmate of mine in VA, and we also graduated from the same college in ‘99. Weird, huh?

Last week (4/2023), I completed another Instructor training in NM, which included a Use of Force lecture that incorporated stats reported by the ODMP. So in a small way, it felt like I had come full-circle 13yrs after meeting your son “Z” at the same NM center in 12/2009 . I believe I’ll meet you one day in Heaven. I look forward to it.

SA James Moon
DoD - DCIS

April 17, 2023