RED LION, Pa. (AP) — Three Pennsylvania detectives shot to death last week while attempting to arrest a stalking suspect were remembered at their funeral…
Three Pennsylvania detectives shot to death last week while attempting to arrest a stalking suspect were remembered at their funeral Thursday as exemplary officers and devoted family men.
The service for Northern York County Regional Police detectives Cody Michael Becker, Mark Edward Baker and Isaiah Emenheiser was held more than a week after they were ambushed by a man who had been inside the home of a woman he was accused of stalking.
“They were gentle, they were kind,” Northern Regional Chief David L. Lash recalled in a eulogy. “They confronted some of the most evil human behaviors imaginable. And not only did they face those challenges, they did so while holding fast to faith, compassion and uncompromising honor.”
Hundreds of police officers were on hand to mourn them at Living Word Community Church in Red Lion in southeastern Pennsylvania after a motorcade brought their flag-draped caskets from a funeral home.
Lash called the three “the best of us. Their sacrifice is a solemn reminder of the cost of service but also the courage required to stand in the face of darkness.”
Autopsy results released this week indicated that all three officers died of multiple gunshot wounds.
A prosecutor said the stalking suspect, 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, fired on the officers as they opened the door to the woman’s home.
