Chicagoans packed a far South Side church Sunday morning to honor and mourn Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez, who was killed in the line of duty last week.
The memorial Mass was held at St. Christina Church in Mount Greenwood, a neighborhood long home to police officers and firefighters.
“This past Monday night, police Officer Enrique Martinez was cruelly and wickedly gunned down on our city streets,” said the Rev. Ryan Brady at the start of his homily.
Teary-eyed parishioners clad in blue prayed for the Martinez family and Chicago’s first responders. Several police officers and firefighters attended in uniform. A portrait of Martinez was displayed at the altar.
Friends, relatives, colleagues and community members gather for a Mass dedicated to Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez, who was killed in the line of duty Nov. 4 during a traffic stop on the South Side. Police say the suspect used a handgun that was modified with an extended magazine and a “switch” that made it fully automatic.
Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times
“We are a community of faithful and selfless servants of our city and of our country,” Brady said. “Our homes are filled with first responders, and our hearts are filled with pride and gratitude. But today here, our hearts are broken and filled with grief. We grieve for the Martinez family, for the Chicago Police Department family and for us we grieve.”
Martinez, who was 26 and on the job not quite three years, was killed Nov. 4 during a traffic stop in the Chatham neighborhood. He was shot several times and pronounced dead after being taken to University of Chicago Medical Center by fellow officers.
Darion McMillian, 23, was charged Wednesday with killing Martinez using a handgun modified with an extended magazine and switch making it fully automatic.
Just over a month ago, the St. Christina Parish gathered to pray over the city’s first responders, Brady said.
“Lord knows, the police, firefighters, paramedics need our prayer,” Brady said. “Boy, did we pray. We filled this church, and we prayed with might, and we celebrated those noble vocations that allow us to live comfortably and at peace in our city.”
Martinez joins a long list of Chicago police officers killed on the job. Brady named several, including Officers Ella French and Andres Vazquez Lasso.
“I could keep going on and on and on and on,” Brady said. “They’re North Siders, they’re South Siders, they’re West Siders. They’re neighbors and friends.”
Marianne Walisiak, a Mount Greenwood resident for 27 years, attended the Mass to pay her respects to Martinez, his family and the city’s police officers. Wearing a “back the blue” T-shirt and pin with a photo of Martinez, she said she’s proud to live in a neighborhood that celebrates first responders.
“It’s strengthening to have the community come together like this,” she said after the Mass ended, her eyes welling up. “I really believe that these police officers wouldn’t have to go through this if they were backed.”
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) told reporters he’s attended several funerals and memorials for police officers during his career.
“The danger has not minimized, the threats to their safety have not ceased,” Lopez said. “It’s important for us to remind our officers and our city that they are loved, that they are supported, and that there are more people across all communities who are with them than against them.”