TACOMA — On a day unlike any other in Pierce County, thousands of citizens joined law enforcement officers from throughout North America to pay tribute Tuesday to four Lakewood police officers gunned down at a Parkland coffee shop last month.
They gathered on street corners, in college auditoriums and at the Tacoma Dome to mourn the losses of Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Greg Richards and Ronald Owens, but they also acknowledged — even celebrated — the bond between the civilian community and those who swear to serve and protect it.
“Thank God we live in a place where people protect us and give their lives for us,” said Steilacoom resident Doris Tchobanoff, 60, who stood with her 2-year-old grandson, Seth, outside Lakewood police headquarters to watch a miles-long procession of emergency vehicles escort the fallen officers’ bodies to the Tacoma Dome for an emotion- and tradition-laden memorial service.
Speaking later at the memorial, Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar said the show of support from the community in the aftermath of the shooting left him awed.
“I stand before you today a very humbled individual,” Farrar said. “I wish (Renninger, Griswold, Richards and Owens) could see the outpouring of love we have seen the past week.”
Four lives honored
The memorial — which began with the beating of a single drum and ended about 5 p.m. with the retiring of the colors — commemorated the lives of the four officers through song, prayer, stories and images of their lives broadcast on huge screens.
“Today’s ceremony is about honoring those lives and about honoring those sacrifices,” Lakewood Mayor Doug Richardson said. “To an officer, they would tell you, ‘On Nov. 29, I was doing my duty.’ There is no higher calling than to do one’s duty, and they served well.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire said the sacrifice would not be forgotten, adding: “We owe the children of these officers, all nine of them, a present and a future that is safe and secure.”
Richards’ teenage son, Austin, was among those who spoke. “Our dad was a hero to many even long before he became a policeman,” he said. “The way he lived his life spoke volumes.”
Assistant Chief Mike Villa of the Tukwila Police Department, where Renninger once worked, said, “I would have gone through any door with Mark, and I trusted him with any mission. I will not forget Mark, the good that he did or the life that he led.”
Pamela Battersby, a friend and co-worker of Griswold, said Griswold liked dressing up and going out, but that she was also a tomboy who rode motorcycles. She met not only the women’s standards on physical fitness tests “but the men’s as well,” Battersby said.
The elder sister of Owens said that her brother followed their late father into law enforcement.
“They were two peas in a pod,” said Ronda LeFrancois. “I know they are in heaven together.”
Respect and brotherhood
Tuesday’s events began with a procession of emergency vehicles through Lakewood and Tacoma.
It left a staging area at McChord Air Force base about 10 a.m. and snaked along a route that took it past Lakewood police headquarters, down South Tacoma Way and on to the Dome, where hundreds of citizens and law enforcement officers in dress uniforms awaited.
It took nearly four hours for the 2,100 cars to make the trip. More than 300 agencies had at least one vehicle in the procession. Some traveled from as far away as the East Coast to participate, including seven officers from Nassau County on New York’s Long Island.
“We had to show our support, not just for the department but for the families,” Nassau County officer Edward Jacobsen said. “Everything those officers were doing, we’ve all done and continue to do. A lot of us work nights. We drink coffee just to stay awake. Now you have to keep any eye open all the time. Both eyes really.’’
Constable Chad Gravelle from Boston Bar, B.C., was among the more than 700 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other police officers from north of the border to attend.
Dressed in their familiar red dress uniforms, the Mounties came to show respect and brotherhood with the Lakewood officers, Gravelle said. The Mounties lost four members in a shooting in Alberta in 2005, and Gravelle said it reminds all officers that they can’t take anything for granted.
“I can’t put it into words,” he said. “It could have been any of us.”
Community support
Thousands of well-wishers lined the route, waving signs and American flags. Some saluted each and every passing police car. Others cried or shouted encouragement.
Cindy Duncan, 43, and Joyce Michelsen, 59, set up chairs along Lakewood Drive SW and hoisted signs that read, “God Bless You” and “Thank You.”
Duncan and Michelsen said it was humbling to see so many cars from different police agencies join in the event. It was a powerful show of support among brothers and sisters in law enforcement, Duncan said.
“When it started, we both started to cry,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful thing to see, the way they’ve all come together.”
Both said it was sad that the show of respect and appreciation from the community resulted from tragedy.
“It feels like we’re a part of history, but it’s a sad history,” Duncan said.
Hundreds more gathered near the intersection of S. 56th Street and S. Tacoma Way, where a Tacoma Fire Department ladder truck extended its ladder above the intersection, an American flag flying from the top.
Three staff members from Nelson Elementary School in Graham stood nearby, including teacher Michelle Asher. The tragedy hit close to home at Nelson. The son of slain Lakewood Police Officer Greg Richards a cousin attended the school, Asher said.
“This morning we held a moment of silence,” she said.
‘This affects us all’
People who wanted to attend the memorial but couldn’t get to the Tacoma Dome gathered at sites where the service was broadcast on large screens or televisions.
Chrissy Core and her husband, Jordan Core, were among the dozens of students, residents and law-enforcement officers who watched the service at Olson Auditorium at Pacific Lutheran Univeristy.
The Cores live in Shelton but said the deaths affected people far outside Lakewood.
“This affects us all,” said Jordan Core, a 25-year-old University of Washington-Tacoma student. “It’s sad here, and for good reason. But I’d rather show my support than sit on the sidelines.”
The hearses carrying the bodies of Renninger, Griswold, Richards and Owens arrived at the Dome just after noon. They were led to cavernous building by a bagpipe band from the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
Next came an honor guard from the Seattle Police Horse Patrol. Four officers on horseback were preceded by a single riderless horse, symbolic of the fallen officers.
An honor guard of police officers and firefighters more than 70 strong stood nearby, their agency’s guidon clasped in their hands.
Before arriving at the Dome, the patrol cars that belonged to the fallen officers drove past Lakewood police headquarters and beneath a giant American flag that swayed softly in the wind.
It would be the final time the fallen officers would report to the station.
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