HoCo Police Attend Slain NYPD Officer's Funeral

Officers from the Howard County Police Department were among the thousands in attendance at the weekend funeral services for NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu, who was shot and killed inside a patrol car in Brooklyn Dec. 20 along with NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos.

Liu, 32, and Ramos, 40, were gunned down by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a 28-year-old who traveled by bus to New York after shooting his ex-girlfriend in Owings Mills that morning. Once he fired fatal shots into the patrol car in Brooklyn, he ran to a nearby subway platform and killed himself.

A funeral for Ramos was held Saturday, Dec. 27 and drew more than 20,000, according to the BBC. Officers from Howard County were also there for the procession.

Services for Liu were delayed until Sunday, Jan. 4, so his family could travel to the U.S. from China, CBS reported. Thousands of officers traveled from around the country to pay their respects as well.

“There’s a nationwide brotherhood and sisterhood amongst law enforcement officers,” Baltimore City Police Officer Keith Tate told WJZ. He said that especially in times of tragedy, “we try to show our support.”

In the Howard County Police Department, there have been two line-of-duty deaths in the past 60 years, according to Officer Down Memorial Page; Cpl. Scott Wheeler was hit by a vehicle and killed in 2007 and Officer Randolph Brightwell was fatally shot during a traffic stop in 1961.

Approximately 200 officers from various Maryland police agencies met Sunday morning off Interstate 95 in Harford County at the Maryland House, then caravanned to New York for Liu’s funeral, WBAL reported.

There were so many police in town for the service that on Sunday, there was a half-mile radius of uniforms in any given direction from the funeral procession, CNN reported.

Howard County officers pictured with NYPD officers pay their respects to fallen NYPD Officer Wen Jian Liu. Photo Credit: Howard County Police Department.

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