Vince Sims can't hold back the tears as dozens of people surround his Bad Dog Bail Bonds office on K Street in downtown Bakersfield.
"They were just lovable guys," Sims said. "I tell you this world has lost two of the best people you ever want to meet."
Brothers Brandon and Zachary Sims worked as bondsmen with their dad, and while doing a job on Kamloops Drive in Southwest Bakersfield on Thursday, police say Stephen Stewart shot and killed the men.
"It shows we're put into the same kind of danger as law enforcement," Sims said. "Both of my sons had bullet proof vests on, they were equipped, but he just snuck up on them, they had no clue."
Police sneaked up on Stewart early Saturday morning, as SWAT surrounded a central Bakersfield home where they arrested him. He now sits in jail, only a few feet away from the family's vigil.
"I'm still in so much shock," said Vickie Hoover, Zachary Sims' mother. "I just keep telling myself I'm going to wake up. Parents aren't supposed to bury their children. It's not fair."
Zachary Sims' wife says she hasn't even told their two young children that their father is gone.
"He was loving, caring, compassionate and was funny," said Carla Sims, Zachary Sims’ wife. She said they moved to Bakersfield two weeks ago from San Diego. "He'd give you the shirt off his back. A wonderful father, I couldn't ask for a better father, husband, friend, my best friend."
The family says bail bondsmen throughout the state showered them with flowers, and the outpouring of support from the local community is immense too. Sims says he thanks the officers who caught his sons' suspected killer.
"I was happy but the pain was still there," Vince Sims said. "It's going to be a while for that to go away."
