Vigil held to honor murdered firefighter

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Firefighter Dave Madrigal was found dead in his home on December 21, 2015. 

Family and friends hold a candlelight vigil for a Detroit firefighter found murdered in his Detroit home.

"Tonight that's one reason we are here. A light has gone out. It's ‘Super Dave’."

“Super Dave” Madrigal was so much more than a Detroit firefighter.

"When he was a firefighter he put his life on the line for someone he didn't know," said a fellow firefighter. 

Tears mingled with laughter as his colleagues shared kind words and memories.

"We called him super Dave for a reason. He touched all of us in a special way."

"I don't know why bad things happen to good people. Dave was good people."

"He had this way about him. If you told him to do something, he’d move real slow. We’d say ‘Dave come on now you’ve got to get that done.’ And he’d say, ‘I'm moving. I'm moving.’"

Unanswered grief after Madrigal was found dead in his own home on Monday. He died from blunt force trauma to the head in an apparent robbery.

"Whatever these people took from him he would have given to them freely."

"It hurts me that he didn't get to live to his retirement."

"I love you and there is nothing you can do about it."

His loved ones can’t go back in time and save him.

"I'm here on behalf of all my brothers and family,” said Madrigal’s cousin. “I thank all of you brothers. I appreciate everyone paying respect to a wonderful person."

But they can try to save what he loves, which was is community and his firefighter family.

"We got to ban together and keep this place open just for Dave."

In the meantime police search for justice in finding his killer.

One woman who lives in the neighborhood tells us that Madrigal would often open the hydrants in his neighborhood during a hot summer day so the kids could have some joy in their lives. It’s another testament to the memory left behind.