COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Five years ago Tuesday Colorado Springs Police Detective Jared Jensen was killed in the line of duty.

Jensen was attempting to arrest Jereme Lamberth, a man who eluded police for weeks, after he tried to murder his own sister.

To this day Jensen is still remembered as a hero.

Jensen became a police officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department in 2002, after choosing to give up a career in acting, his first passion.

Jensen's father said Jared told him, "Dad, I want my life to matter, I want my life to count."

On the morning of Feb. 22, 2006 Jensen spotted Lamberth near a bus stop at Hancock and Costilla.

"Jereme Lamberth had been wanted for a period of about two weeks, as I recall," Luis Velez, who was Chief of the Colorado Springs Police Department at the time, said. "He had stabbed his sister, as I remember, and we were looking for him for that felonious assault."

Before his backup arrived, Jensen attempted to arrest Lamberth, which is when tragedy struck.

No one is exactly sure what happened during those few moments, but Jensen was shot in the head.

Velez said the CSPD lost a great officer and a great man that day.

"He was a gregarious officer. I mean he had a wonderful smile, he had the kind of infectious personality that you met him and you couldn't help but like him," Velez said.

Each year friends and family gather Feb. 22 at the very spot Jensen was shot and killed. Family members said the 22nd is a day they wish they could forget.

"He loved it. He loved being a cop," Jared's father Tom Jensen said. "He absolutely relished it, that's why so many pictures of him shows him smiling. He was a good officer. He did everything so well until that horrible, horrible day.

"I said 'Jeff (Jared's brother), when you get next to Jared,' I said 'whether he's still alive or whether God has called him home, you whisper in his ear that I love him,' and I said 'you promise me that you'll do that, you promise me' and he said 'I will dad,'" Tom said.

While many would like to forget the day they lost Jared, they said they never want to forget who Jared was.

"You never want to forget somebody that you love, you know, or somebody who meant a part of you," Jonika Winkler, Jared's sister, said. "He was a part of my heart, a part that I have a void in, that void will never be filled again."

Tom said he still tries to live through Jared's words.

"I try to do my part to promote that legacy 'dad I want my life to matter, I want my life to count,'" Tom said.

Jared's picture continues to watch over the citizens of Colorado Springs at memorials around town made in his honor like Jared Jensen Park.

"Every time we leave my daughter wants to go see the sign with Jared's picture on it, and every time I have to read them what the sign says, and you know that's a bonding time, it's a time that they can enjoy the park and know about uncle Jared and see his picture, get that reminder of what he looks like and what he stood for and what he died doing," Winkler said.

Jared's wife Natalie said in a statement "Jared's light, vibrancy, and joy, not the darkness, has remained an eternal reminder of the good that is possible in the world."

Winkler agreed.

"I mean I look at pictures of him, and I mean the smile, you see his smile, and you can't help but smile," Winkler said. "You could be sad, and you look at his smile and you smile."

Family members said they will continue to carry Jared's memory with them and make sure he is never forgotten.

"Every day of his career he protected people," Winkler said. "He protected all of us you know. When he was a patrolman he stopped speeders, he stopped drunk drivers you know, he stopped people that could hurt other people, and that's what our police officers do for us, they protect us, and I'm honored that Jared was one of them, and I'm honored that he's my brother."

Lamberth was caught and convicted of second degree murder in Jensen's death and sentenced to 96 years in prison. He was also sentenced to an additional 96 years for the attempted murder of his sister.

Natalie Jensen's Full Statement via e-mail:

Jared's light, vibrancy and joy, not the darkness, has remained an eternal reminder of the good that is possible in the world. Words cannot express enough the immense gratitude felt for family, friends, the Colorado Springs Police Department, the 4th Judicial District Attorney's office, our law enforcement family and the entire community. Their continuous thoughts, prayers and kindness have held, supported and sustained through this unbelievably painful 5 years. It is difficult to know what to say at this time, but I hold to hope that we all continue to know and feel Jared's presence with us. We never walk alone and Jared's spirit encourages us to live life to the fullest in every moment possible.