“We send those officers not only for the department to represent and show their department that we support them”, said Lafayette Police Department’s Public Information Officer Paul Mouton, “But to show the family and the children of those fallen officers that hey you have family across the nation and we’re here to support you”.
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Gerald’s wife and daughters laid flowers on his casket before the funeral began. Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden said Tullier was taken off life-support machines on Tuesday, but that he was still alive.
“We were right in the middle of the firestorm”, he said. “The men and women who put on those uniforms respect you, respect them”.
Funerals for the other slain officers – East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola and Officer Montrell Jackson of the Baton Rouge Police Department – will be held on Saturday and Monday, respectively.
A Baton Rouge police officer and a mourner embrace at a funeral services for police officer Matthew Gerald at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 22, 2016.
Baton Rouge Police Officer Matthew Gerald was remembered by a colleague as devoted and passionate about his job.
Matthew Gerald police partner, Cpl.
The shootings came at a time of heightened racial tension in Baton Rouge after the fatal shooting of a black man, Alton Sterling, by police. Lester Mitchell, said they’d also spoken about “the madness, how much it was putting a strain on the community, police relations”.
On the day of the attack, the partners had been writing reports at police headquarters when Gerald said he was feeling exhausted, and was going for an energy drink at the B-Quick convenience store a few blocks away. They heard gunfire as they arrived on the scene.
The three are among a group of ten officers killed in ten days.
Garafola’s boss, East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, described to reporters how he could see Garafola on surveillance video, firing at the gunman as bullets hit the concrete around him. Some conservatives say there’s a “war on cops” and are demanding a return to “law and order”, while many liberals believe there’s a police war on minorities and have led protests that sometimes look more like riots.
Dozens of American flags were planted in the grass outside the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge.
The many mourners Friday included Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Cox from Knox County, Tennessee.
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Mitchell said they were writing reports at police headquarters Sunday when Gerald said he was going for an energy drink at the B-Quick store less than a mile away.
