Matthew Ward, an employee with the Baton Rouge Sheriff’s office who knew slain deputy Brad Garafola, touches his photograph while visiting a makeshift memorial for the officers who were killed and wounded in Sunday’s shooting, at the B-Quik gas station on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, in Baton Rouge, La.
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Hundreds of people lined up Saturday to pay their respects to the family of a Louisiana sheriff’s deputy killed by a gunman six days earlier.
During two hours of visitation before the funeral, a line of mourners snaked through church hallways, out the back door and into the parking lot.
The shootings came at a time of racial tension in the city and country after a black man was shot and killed during a confrontation with two white police officers outside a convenience store.
A police officer who has been unconscious since being shot by the Baton Rouge shooter on Sunday squeezed the hand of a family member when she told him: “We need you”.
Funeral services are planned Monday for police officer Montrell Jackson, a 32-year-old slain by a gunman who authorities said targeted law enforcement.
Sheriff Sid Gautreaux called him courageous, compassionate, fearless and benevolent.
Saturday afternoon, the Baton Rouge community said goodbye to another fallen officer.
Garafola’s funeral, at Istrouma Baptist church, included a 21-gun salute and a horse-drawn carriage procession.
The deputy, killed in what police are calling an ambush, was attempting to save another wounded officer when he was fatally shot, Gautreaux said.
All 1,500 seats in the church were filled for the public funeral for Garafola.
Internal reviews underway officers – BALTIMORE: Two outside police departments are conducting investigations into the conduct of three Baltimore officers who have been cleared of criminal charges in the death of Freddie Gray. The next day a black man in Minnesota was shot and killed by police, and the man’s girlfriend live-streamed the aftermath of that shooting on Facebook.
Gerald was laid to rest on Friday, with hundreds turning out to commemorate the rookie officer. He said the department sends an honor guard contingent to commemorate every out-of-state death in the line of duty. Montgomery County police, with the help of Howard County officers, have launched reviews to determine whether Lt. Brian Rice and Officers Caesar Goodson Jr. and Edward Nero broke department policy during Gray’s April 2015 arrest.
“My deputy went down fighting”, Gautreaux said.
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“How do you adequately honor a man who gave the ultimate sacrifice for protecting our community?” said Casey Raybourn Hicks, Sheriff’s Office information director who worked with Garafola for several years.
