Slain Officer's Family Tells Mayor And Gov Not To Attend Funeral: FOP

CHICAGO — Another family of a fallen Chicago police officer has asked Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker not to show up at the wake and funeral for Enrique Martinez, who will be laid to rest on Monday.

The 26-year-old police officer was gunned down Nov. 4 while conducting a traffic stop in the South Side Gresham neighborhood. Martinez will be laid to rest on Monday.

FOP Lodge 7 president John Catanzara, the union representing Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers, stated in a video posted on YouTube, that Martinez’s family “has been very clear they do not want the governor or mayor to attend” the visitation and funeral set for Sunday and Monday.

“We lost one of our brothers in blue last week,” Catanzara said. “Enrique Martinez, a three-year member of this department, who was yet another bright star and the future of this department snatched way too soon by a piece of garbage who never should have been on the streets thanks to ridiculous laws, SAFE-T Act considerations and judges who don’t seem to give a damn about society and are more concerned about their bedsheets than doing what’s morally right for the public.”

Saying there were “too many gun offenders on the street able to commit more crimes day after day,” Catanzara said he was elevating the life of a police officer above a “normal murder.”

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“The sad reality for all of us is that if these scumbags are willing to murder an officer in uniform in cold blood, nobody stands a chance in this city. They will murder anybody anytime anywhere, child elderly or anybody in between,” the union president said. “It needs to start with respect and a healthy fear of law enforcement that you are not going to be able to make this the Wild West, which it has become.”

In April, Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca was returning home from his shift late in the evening when he was shot to death in his own driveway by a would-be carjacker. Huesca’s mother made a similar request that the governor and mayor not attend her son’s wake and funeral.

While Pritzker conveyed his condolences and said he would respect the Huesca family’s wishes, Johnson at first included the officer’s funeral in his public schedule, then amended his schedule the morning of Huesca’s funeral stating he would not attend.

“Gov. Pritzker rightly, immediately, acknowledged that he would not attend and honored the [Huesca’s] family wishes,” Catanzara said. “Mayor Johnson did not. Repeatedly, Mayor Johnson’s team and safely, the Chicago Police Department, tried to convince the family that the mayor was needed and obligated to be at this funeral as part of the honors package.”

Catanzara then played a recording of President-elect Trump calling the claim “fake news” and totally “made up stuff.”

“And the drama that occurred around that wake is just unforgivable on many terms,” the police union president said. “Especially for the family who had to deal with unnecessary drama even the day of the wake at the funeral home seeing Luis in the casket for the first time.”

“Well, here we are again with another fallen hero and another funeral and another family who has been very clear they do not want the governor or mayor to attend,” he added.

Catanzara thanked Pritzker for immediately respecting the Martinez family’s wishes. Referring to himself as merely the “messenger” Catanzara scolded the mayor for not publicly acknowledging the Martinez family’s wishes to not show up this weekend.

“That is their wishes. It needs to be done sooner rather than later,” Catanzara said. “This family should not have to endure what the Huesca family endured waiting to see if you are going to be a class act or a piece of garbage.”

During a news conference Friday evening, the mother of fallen Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca, who said the Martinez family does not view Johnson as a supporter of policies that protect officers, which is why she did not want him at her son's funeral, WGN reported.

On Saturday, Johnson acquiesced, issued the following stated that he would honor the Martinez family's wishes:

“The family of Officer Enrique Martinez continues to be in my prayers as they prepare to lay him to rest. I heard from the family and am honoring their request and will no longer plan to attend the honors funeral services. This has been an emotional two weeks for the loved ones of Officer Martinez, the Chicago Police Department, and the city of Chicago. We all want to do right by Officer Martinez and give his family and the CPD family space to grieve. The focus must remain on Officer Martinez, his loved ones, and the CPD as our city continues to honor his ultimate sacrifice and legacy of service.”

This story has been updated with new information.