OAKLAND, Calif. -- It was on Saturday March 21 that the Oakland Police Department suffered one of the largest losses of on-duty police officers in state history. Some 800 officers from the department said goodbye last Friday to Officer John Hege and Sergeants Mark Dunakin, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai. On Monday, KTVU went for a ride along as officers try to put their grief aside and do their jobs.

"We're human beings," said Officer Jeff Thomason. "When you go through life and you think it could never happen to you, and then when it does happen, especially to your close friend, you're like it could have happened to me." The police union's president says officers will persevere, it's their nature. He adds they've been doing a good job and they will continue to do so. "We're tough. We're built that way," said Dom Arotzarena. "We have some great training here, we have some great cops. And everyone has a sense of professionalism in this town. It goes to show you the dedication this force has."

Police say they have received an outpouring of support from the community. Gifts and donations have been dropped off at the Eastmont Substation, not far from where the four officers were killed. Officers brought the gifts and donations to police union headquarters on Monday.

Representatives from Clorox, PG & E, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, and Chinatown Chamber of Commerce also stopped by. They donated a total of $100,000 to the four officers' families. "We just felt that it was a sad sad day for the community of Oakland, and we wanted to do something about that," explained Victoria Jones, Clorox's Vice President of Community Relations.

Police already were in mourning before the four officers were killed. Two weeks before the shootings, Officer Kaiser Albino died suddenly from an aneurysm. He was 52-years-old.