Slain Newark Police Officer Laid to Rest

A regulation-sized American flag, suspended by two fire engine ladders, waved brilliantly overhead Thursday afternoon as Newark police officer William C. Johnson Jr. was carried by horse and buggy along Sussex Avenue in a somber procession led by a police escort and a bagpipe troupe playing "America, the Beautiful." 

Hordes of police officers and firefighters from around the state, along with city and state officials gathered at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark for Johnson's three-hour funeral. Johnson was a 16-year veteran of the Newark Police Department who was off-duty when he was in a drive-by shooting in the city's South Ward. 

"I do not believe in coincidence," said Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who spoke inside the crowded church. "God called him home during Memorial Day weekend. It is a time that this nation chooses to remember those who live for our nation, who stood for our country. Officer Johnson was one of those men."

Members of the media and rows of emergency responders lined Sussex Avenue as funeral-goers came in and out of the church starting at 11 a.m. Outside, two loudspeakers blared the memorial service as speakers like family members, Essex County and Newark officials, and clergy members spoke of Johnson's life inside the church.

"Let us have his going from us serve only to bring us together now," said Booker. "Officer Johnson loved us. No bullet could stop his love."

Johnson, 45, was a lifelong Newarker, growing up on Wainwright Street and graduating from Arts High School and Delaware State University. Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and worked for Continental Airlines before joining the Newark Police Department. At the time of his death, Johnson worked within the department's communications division monitoring security cameras and worked part-time as a security guard. He was a member of the Newark Bronze Shields and Fraternal Order of Police.

Acting Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio remembered when Johnson approached him about a dilemma he was facing — balancing his family and career. Johnson said his primary role in life was being the father two his two daughters Felicia, 22, and Tiyana, 11, according to DeMaio.

"From that day on, William always was and always will be a respected dedicated member of the Newark Police Department," said DeMaio, who then presented Johnson's family with the officer's badges.

Booker and Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said the senseless violence that took place last Thursday should not be the focus today. Rather, Johnson's dedication as a father and to his career should be celebrated. Speaking to the family members, particularly Johnson's daughters, Murray vowed to bring justice to his untimely death.

"I will commit to you today on behalf of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office and these fine men ... that we will seek justice for him, for you, and for us," Murray said, referring to the officer as a fundamentally good person and "salt of the Earth."

Rasul McNeil-Thomas, 19, has been of Johnson, who was grabbing a bite to eat last Thursday night at Texas Fried Chicken in Pizza on Lyons Avenue when he was gunned down. As of now, a second suspect is still at-large.

Johnson, who was best known as "Junior," was remembered by family members during a as a family guy who never missed a cook out because he loved to eat. The mother of Johnson's daughters, whose name was not immediately known, spoke of his close relationship with Felicia, calling her a "carbon-copy" of her father.

In a poem located on the funeral program's back page, written by Johnson's older sister Gail Timmons, the officer is memorialized as a "real man" because he held fatherhood in the highest regard.

"Jr. (sic) I love you so and miss you much more, but I know you are better off, a fact I can't ignore," the poem read.

— Joshua Wilwohl contributed to this report.

Listen to an audio broadcast from the funeral.