It was no time wasted, Sgt. Carlos Langarica said.

In uniform with a black mourning band over his police badge, Langarica watched as mourners dropped bouquets of flowers off to a growing memorial in honor of Baldwin Park police Officer Samuel Riveros, who was gunned down Saturday while responding to a call.

“We do this job to help people who can’t help themselves, we’re all regular people, and this is something we hope we never have to deal with,” Langarica said. “I’m just so very sorry. I want (the families) to know we’re all thinking of them and we’re going to help them always.”Langarica, a recipient of the Medal of Valor and Police Medal for Bravery from the Los Angeles Police Department, said he came to pay his respects to the community and Chief Robert Lopez, a friend and mentor from the earliest period of his 28-year law enforcement career. Retired from the Los Angeles Police Department, Langarica works at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

“I’ve been in shootouts with gang members and I’ve just been lucky,” he said. The response from numerous police departments, from Alhambra and Pasadena to Hawthorne, La Verne and South Gate, is proof of what the police community does at times of crisis.

“Everyone shows up,” he said. “You get on the radio and they all come.”

Langarica stood by at Wednesday’s Baldwin Park City Council meeting, which was adjourned in honor of Riveros. His official portrait was displayed on the City Council chamber screens before the meeting. A large spray of white lilies was placed on top of a black-topped table in front of the council dais.

A community vigil for Riveros is scheduled for tonight at the Baldwin Park Police Department’s fountain area, at 14403 E. Pacific Ave.

Mayor Alejandra Avila offered condolences to the family of Riveros and Darius Wong, 43, of Walnut, who was attending a party on Filhurst Avenue when he was killed in the shooting that Riveros responded to.

“It is sad and beautiful the way we have all come together to support each other, especially our police department,” Avila said. “We are united because of this.”

Councilmember Manuel Lozano said the death was something “you felt in your chest,” especially seeing so many people turn out for the nighttime procession that ferried Riveros’ body from the medical examiner’s office in Los Angeles to Forest Lawn Funeral Home in Covina.

“He was without a doubt a hero, the best of the Baldwin Park Police Department,” Lozano said. “June 27 is his birthday and we will commemorate that day. My brother, we will not forget you.”

It is, city leaders said, a time to mourn.

Outside the council chambers, black and blue ribbons were tied around the sycamore trees in front of City Hall, where a large portrait of the 35-year-old Riveros hung above large funeral wreaths of mostly blue and white roses, bouquets, American flag balloons, photos and notes. His police car was parked at an angle nearby. Flags flew at half-staff.

Karen Trace and Maria Ares volunteer with the Whittier Police Department.

“We’re asking them what they need from us and we do it,” said Trace, in her early 70s. She knows how the Baldwin Park community feels, she said, having experienced the loss of Officer Keith Boyer in 2017. Boyer was a Whittier police officer who was the first in the city killed in the line of duty in 37 years when he was gunned down in 2017. Boyer was 53.

“I worked his memorial, too,” Trace said. “It’s the same atmosphere, people paying tribute and I hope realizing that police work is every day, every hour, not knowing what will happen. It’s senseless. So we’re here to support a community that’s grieving. We know what that’s like.”

Maria Ares, who said she has relatives in law enforcement, said the least she could do is pick out wilted flowers and collect Dodgers caps, photos and police department patches for the Baldwin Park Police Department. Riveros, a UC Irvine alum, was an avid Dodgers fan and snowboarder.

When it starts to get dark, the two volunteers will bring the wreaths and bouquets steps away into a room in the city’s arts and recreation center. Another set of volunteers will bring them back out the next day.

It is, they said, time well spent.

Yolanda Perez drove straight from her daughter Leylanie’s graduation ceremony at North Park High School so they could offer a purple orchid lei. Leylanie hung it on the side mirror of Rivero’s police car.

“The lei was from the school, and they said for us to give it to someone who inspires you, to someone special,” said Leylanie, 18.

Mother and daughter knew instantly where the orchids belonged.

“We are both Baldwin Park born and raised and we both said, let’s go give the lei in his memory,” Yolanda Perez, 46, said. “He was there for our community, all of them in law enforcement are.”