NORTHPORT, Ala. — There are exactly 344 miles between the headquarters of the Northport and Baton Rouge Police Departments, but no amount of distance could sever the bond of brotherhood that exists within the law enforcement community.
Two weeks ago a lone gunman killed three police officers and wounded three others after opening fire at a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The shooter was later identified as Gavin Eugene Long, a black male from Kansas City, Missouri, who just a handful of years ago was a student at the University of Alabama.
Long was killed on site by police who responded to calls for help.
This past week, three Alabama police officers wanted to honor their fallen colleagues and make sure their families knew they had the full support of the law enforcement community in Alabama, so they decided to make the 344-mile journey to Baton Rouge for the funeral of Cpl. Montrell Jackson.
The funeral was held at the Living Faith Christian Center, but the building could not even come close to holding all of the people came to pay their respects.
Just days before he was gunned down, Cpl. Jackson had posted a heartfelt Facebook status urging communities to come together with love.
“These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better,” the post read. “I’m working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer, I got you.”
Many of the people who lined the streets to see the funeral procession did so while holding signs referencing that now-famous post. “Need a hug? I got you,” the signs read.
“You actually see that this was a man. And you see his wife and child standing in front of the casket and all the family members that were standing up mourning and it really hits home of what a deep tragedy and senseless act that this was,” Lt. Mark Glenn of the Northport Police Department told WBRC.
For Lt. Glenn, every law enforcement funeral is an emotional reminder of a tragedy he endured here in Alabama a few years ago.
“Phillip Davis at Pelham Police Department, I was there for his [funeral] and actually knew Phillip,” he recalled. “We worked together at the University of Alabama Police Department for several years. Phillip was tragically murdered on a traffic stop in 2009.”
At Cpl. Jackson’s funeral, his former colleagues pledged their support to his surviving family.
“I want you to know that in the weeks to come, when the cameras stop flashing, we got you,” one of them said during the funeral.
(h/t WBRC)
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