Anne Jackson was known to her peers as a champion of the underdogs.

She came to law enforcement on the behalf of animals, but quickly rose to helping anyone in need. As the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office’s first animal control officer, hired in 2002, the Alger woman scowered the county rescuing abused and neglected pets.

Three years later, she wanted more. After watching her superiors help victimized people around the county, she decided that was her calling too.

“She was someone who really wanted to be a deputy,” Chief Criminal Deputy Will Reichardt said. “She loved her job.”

But the 40-year-old deputy’s law enforcement career was cut short Tuesday afternoon when she was shot while responding to a 911 call for help. She was one of 10 victims in a shooting and stabbing spree that ended in downtown Mount Vernon with the arrest of 28-year-old Isaac Zamora of Alger.

Jackson had earned a reputation among Skagit County law enforcement for her intolerance for those who take advantage of the less fortunate, such as animals or the elderly, said Anacortes Police Chief Bonnie Bowers. Bowers worked with Jackson in the Sheriff’s Office for several years.

“If she could stop something, she would. She was the champion of the underdog,” Bowers said. “We lost an officer, and a good officer that was just trying to do her job.”

Older than the average law enforcement academy student, Jackson worked hard through the rigorous training and testing, and in 2005 she was promoted.

When Jackson first learned to use handcuffs, she would practice incessantly on the other deputies, Bowers said, and once she mastered the task she put them to good use. Once again, she was rescuing Skagit County’s most vulnerable, but this time with the gusto of her newly earned deputy title behind her.

“She did an excellent job,” Sheriff Rick Grimstead said quietly, on the verge of tears, at the Alger crime scene Wednesday.

It was Jackson’s humanity that captured the hearts of her coworkers.

“She was always smiling and upbeat and fun to be around,” Grimstead said.

Bowers said law enforcement can be “a grumpy lot, and I never saw her like that. Sometimes I thought she was too nice to be one of us.”

Jackson lived on a ranch in Alger with her two horses and a German Shepherd.

Detective Sgt. Jenny Sheahan-Lee, who was Jackson’s office partner for five years, said Jackson was always willing to learn and would “ask questions and make sure she was doing the best job she could do.”

Wednesday afternoon, the hearse carrying Jackson’s body was escorted from where she died in Alger to Hawthorne Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Mount Vernon by a large fleet of law enforcement officers from Skagit, Whatcom, Island and Snohomish Counties. The flashing lights of their patrol vehicles and motorcycles silently filled College Way for blocks.

“Whenever, we lose a deputy, it hurts,” said Sgt. Robert Goetz, spokesman for the multi-jurisdictional investigation, with his voice breaking at a Wednesday press conference. “And it doesn’t hurt any worse or less now.”

During the motorcade, Skagit County Public Works employees waved flags and snapped photos from three corners of the Continental Place and College Way intersection. Several of the county workers cried openly as the white hearse passed amid more than 20 police cars and dozens of motorcycles.

Members of the public stopped along the sidewalks to watch, as well.

One woman said she met the deputy only once.

“I was homeless, and she pulled up in her patrol car, rolled down the window, and handed me five bucks. I didn’t know they weren’t supposed to do that at the time,” the woman said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Jackson’s memorial service has not been scheduled, but officials said it will likely occur early next week.

“We all grieve for her and all the families of all the other victims,” Grimstead said. “It’s not just our loss. It’s the community’s loss.”

• Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at .
• Ralph Schwartz, Kate Martin and Marta Murvosh contributed to this report.