THE father of a Queensland police officer who was shot and killed this week said his son was "born to be a hero".

Senior Constable Brett Forte was killed by "wanted man" Rick Maddison following a traffic stop in the Lockyer Valley around 2pm on Monday.

His family, including father Stuart Forte, visited the growing shrine for the fallen cop at the Toowoomba police station this morning.

Mr Forte, who is a former police officer, said the family was "coping" and thanked the public for their support.

"The flowers are beautiful and sentiments are fantastic, it all helps with us to try and grieve because of our loss.

"Actually Brett would have loved the attention, I'm sure. We are coping, getting a little bit better, can only take one day at a time," he told Channel 7.
 

Mr Forte said he particularly wanted to thank Brett's police partner and the other officers who were on the scene when he died.

"His partner … and two officers from Helidon who were in the car behind them, who pulled Brett out and tried to save his life.

"The police are a big family and this shows that the public appreciate what the police do for them when someone makes that ultimate sacrifice and their thoughts are with us and it helps with the grieving process as well," he said.

Mr Forte said Brett was a third generation police officer and "born to be a hero".

"Brett loved the police.

"I caught him riding my police bike around the house one day when he was so little he couldn't even touch the ground while he was sitting on it and he used to sneak out and put the radio on the police bike."

He said the family had asked the Queensland Police Service to give Brett a big police send off.

"We have asked that (they do) whatever they can to send him off in the best style possible," he said.

Mr Forte said Brett's wife was "still very upset" and stayed home with her daughter while the rest of the family visited the growing shrine outside the police station in Toowoomba this morning.

"It's a very big thing to realise that 99.9 per cent of the public are so supportive of the family when this happens and of the police when they lose somebody in the line of duty," he said.

Brett's brothers Luke and Chris said the family was "proud" and called him "everyone's hero".

"He loved his job, he loved the people he worked with and we're very proud of him, he's a hero … I think he's everyone's hero here in Toowoomba and Australia-wide so we're really, really proud," said Luke.

"It's very shattering to lose a brother and it's still very, very raw at the moment but we'll keep his memories living forever and we'll be looking after his family as much as possible," Chris said.