Slain Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez’s family doesn’t want Gov. JB Pritzker or Mayor Brandon Johnson to attend his funeral next week, according to John Catanzara, president of the union representing Chicago’s rank-and-file cops.
The family has been “very clear they do not want the governor or the mayor to attend” the funeral on Nov. 18, Catanzara said in a video posted to the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police YouTube channel on Monday.
He added that Pritzker has acknowledged the request and indicated he plans to honor it, but Johnson has yet to follow suit. “Shame on you, Mayor Johnson,” Catanzara said.
Chicago mayors have typically attended the funerals of officers who died in the line of duty, but families of those officers have increasingly requested elected officials stay away.
Earlier this year, the family of Officer Luis Huesca also asked Johnson and Pritkzer not to attend his funeral. And Johnson’s predecessor faced even more pointed treatment from Chicago police officers.
In August 2021, officers were gathered on the seventh floor at the University of Chicago Medical Center after the fatal shooting of Officer Ella French and the wounding of French’s partner, Carlos Yanez Jr. When Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrived, the assembled cops turned their backs to her.
A spokesperson for Pritzker said the governor’s office routinely checks with families before attending services.
“The absolute priority is making sure no additional stress is added to one of the worst days of their lives, and the governor will always respect the wishes of the family,” the spokesperson said in an email Wednesday.
“Governor Pritzker and the first lady continue to hold Officer Martinez and his family in their thoughts and prayers.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Martinez, 26, was killed Nov. 4 during a traffic stop in the Chatham neighborhood. He was shot several times and pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was driven by fellow officers. He had been on the job less than three years.
Darion McMillian, 23, was charged last week with killing Martinez using a handgun modified with an extended magazine and switch making it fully automatic. McMillian also allegedly shot and killed his friend, who was in the driver’s seat of the stopped vehicle.
McMillian had been placed on electronic monitoring in Will County after a recent arrest in Chicago.
The Will County sheriff’s office issued a warrant for McMillian’s arrest last month, and he was charged with a felony, accused of trying to foil a drug test, according to court records and law enforcement officials. At the time, McMillian was facing felony cannabis charges.
The Chicago police arrested him Oct. 11 on the warrant, court records show. After he was released on electronic monitoring in the new case, Will County prosecutors sought to have him detained pending trial on the cannabis charges. That case was continued on Oct. 28.
In Monday’s video Catanzara called Martinez a “bright star” in the department who was “snatched way too soon by a piece of garbage who should have never been on the street.”
The FOP president also said Martinez’s killing meant more than a “normal murder” because “if these scumbags are willing to murder an officer in uniform in cold blood nobody stands a chance.”
Hundreds are expected to pay their respects to Martinez at his funeral Monday morning at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7740 S. Western Ave.