MOSCOW – Moscow police officer Lee Newbill, killed last weekend by a sniper on a rampage through this college town, was remembered Friday as a brave man who enjoyed helping others.
Thousands of people attended a memorial service for Newbill, 48, the first Moscow officer killed in the line of duty in the department’s 115-year history. Among those attending were Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.
The service filled many of the 16,000 seats in the Kibbie Dome, the University of Idaho’s covered football stadium. Hundreds of police cars from all over the nation formed a procession through the town of 22,000 residents before the service.
“We are endlessly grateful for his sacrifice,” said Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney. “We grieve with his family.”
“Officer Newbill will forever be remembered for his dedication, his courage and his ultimate sacrifice,” Chaney said.
Newbill was shot by sniper Jason Hamilton, who killed three people and wounded three others before taking his own life early Sunday. No motive has been found for the shootings.
Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch said the search for a motive was misplaced.
“Would any reason for this senseless violence justify what happened?” Rausch asked the crowd.
Newbill’s body was not at the service. He will be cremated and the ashes scattered in the woods, his family said.
Moscow Police Chief Dan Weaver described Newbill as “a man’s man” who took great pleasure in helping others. Weaver called Newbill a history nerd and motorcycle rider who was born to be a police officer.
Newbill responded to the shootings after he had signed out for the night, and led the search for the shooter, Weaver said.
Merrill Newbill, father of the officer, said his family spent a year living in Sandpoint when Lee was a child.
“He got Idaho in his blood,” said Newbill a retired Marine Corps colonel.
City and county offices closed at noon Friday so employees could attend the service.
A private funeral was planned today for 30-year-old Crystal Hamilton, who police say was shot late Saturday before her husband headed to the courthouse. A memorial service is scheduled in June at First Presbyterian Church for sexton Paul Bauer, 62, who was shot by Hamilton in the church before Hamilton took his own life.
After shooting his wife, Hamilton drove to the county Courthouse downtown and sprayed more than 100 bullets into the sheriff’s office and vehicles parked outside.
Newbill responded to the shootings with officer Bill Shields, and both were ambushed by Hamilton, who was hiding behind a wall about 40 feet away.
Newbill was struck twice in the upper shoulder and neck area and collapsed. Shields suffered wounds from bullet fragments which ricocheted off the pavement. He returned to duty Wednesday.
Sheriff’s Deputy Brannon Jordan pulled Newbill out of the line of fire, and then was wounded himself as he took cover behind a tree. Also wounded was Pete Husmann, a University of Idaho student from Coeur d’Alene, who had heard the gunshots outside his apartment and ran to help.
Lee Stewart Newbill was born in Newport Beach, Calif., on Oct. 3, 1958. He graduated from high school in Cherry Point, N.C., and from the University of Idaho in 1982.
He met Rebecca Fouts in college and they were married in 1981. He was a U.S. Army officer from 1982 to 1992, when he was honorably discharged as a captain.
From 1992 to 2001, he worked as a supervisor of security at the University of Idaho night watch program. He joined the police department in 2001.
In addition to his wife, Newbill is survived by three adult children, Christina, Lisa and Jeremiah; his parents; three sisters; and a brother.
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