At about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputy Brad Garafola sent his wife a text message, “Good morning, my love”.
Advertisement
Mourners view the body of East Baton Rouge Sheriff deputy Brad Garafola at the Istrouma Baptist Church Saturday.
Officers from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard have traveled to Louisiana to support three police officers killed last Sunday. Long wounded three other officers during his attack.
East Baton Rouge Deputy Brad Garafola died doing what he had done for years ― putting his life on the line to help others. Deputy Brad Garafola died as he lived.
“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. “Hearts go out to the families, and this has broken our heart as well”.
The services for Garafola were held the same day mourners gathered in Kansas City, Kan., for the funeral of Capt. Robert “Dave” Melton, who was gunned down Tuesday in his patrol vehicle while searching for a shooting suspect. Photographs of happier times flashed above on three screens: Garafola with his two sons and two daughters, on vacation and fishing, Christmas time with the family, his wedding day. They’re trying to get money to city, parish and state law enforcement to repay some of their expenses for responding to the protests after Sterling’s death and the shootings of their officers.
True heroes coast to coast, including our neighbors in Texas with the Dallas Police Department, who knew all too well about losing one of their own in blue. “All we can do is show we care and show our respect”. In 39 years of law enforcement, this is a first. “This is the least we can do”, she said.
On Friday, hundreds turned out for a funeral service for Baton Rouge police Officer Matthew Gerald, 41. “That’s what hurts the most”, he said, crying. He did so to save his fallen brother, he did so to protect you and me, he did what we are all called to do. “That could be my wife”.
Governor John Bel Edwards quoted scripture from the book of Joshua: “Be strong and courageous says the Lord”.
He was known as the “neighborhood husband”, one who cooked, cut grass, made repairs and occasionally dabbled in snake removal.
Garafola and two Baton Rouge police officers were killed outside the B-Quik convenience store by 29-year-old gunman Gavin Eugene Long, who was shot dead by police. Sheriff’s deputies transferred Garafola’s casket from a horse-drawn carriage to a hearse underneath a giant US flag suspended from the ladders of two fire trucks.
Advertisement
“It’s not easy”, Krista Prestidge, 31, said.
