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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Out in the streets they are competitors, but Thursday night they gathered as one.

"We're competitors by trade, but at the end of the day we're all tow truck drivers," Justin Wilson, driver dispatch at Randy's High Country Towing, said .

Others agree.

"It's a great show of strength from the community," Paul Epler, tow truck operator and owner of Action Towing Inc., said.

People laid flowers and lit candles for Allen Rose at Platte Avenue and Babcock Road, where Rose came free from the SUV that had dragged him for more than a mile.

"It's unfortuante that they have to come together like this," Epler said.

Dozens of tow truck drivers from dozens of companies formed a processional and drove the route Rose was dragged Wednesday afternoon.

Drivers said Rose's death has shaken the towing community.

"It put a scare through my wife and my kids and everything else," Jim Alexander, a tow truck driver with Randy's High Country Towing, who used to go bowling with Rose, said. "I've got a 12-year-old boy at home, so it really shook him up."

They said the life of a tow truck driver isn't an easy one, but they know what they are getting into.

"I've been headbutted, slammed off the bed of my truck," Mary Miller, tow truck driver with M&M towing, said. "Private property tows and repos are one of the two most dangerous jobs to do, and I don't feel sometimes that the public repsects what we do."

Drivers said they expect some danger in this business.

"It's definitely an eye opener, but it is part of the job though," Wilson said. "We know the risks when we take the job."

For drivers time is money, and they have no choice but to get back out there.

"I think a lot of the towers like me that go out and do the private property tows are very scared for themselves," Miller said. "I know I've had very tingly feelings since it's happened, but I had to go back out this morning and do my job anyway."

Even though it's back to the streets and back to the competition, drivers said they now know they can always count on one another in a time of need.

"The towing industry is so against each other," Miller said. "Most of the time it's a competition, too much of a competition and when they all come together it's just great. Its just real great, especially for one of our own."

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at 444-7000, CrimeStoppers at 634-STOP or text "CSPD" and your tip to TIP411 (847411).