HoCo Police Attend Slain NYPD Officer's Funeral

Officers from the Howard County Police Department were among the thousands in attendance at Sunday’s funeral procession honoring NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu, who was shot and killed Dec. 20 alongside partner 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. He fired at point-blank range into the patrol car where Liu and Ramos were stationed in Brooklyn, then 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 Wenjian Liu. Photo Credit: Howard County Police Department.

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