“To reach out and invite (us) to the service and say, ‘we forgive you.’ … When he’s willing to do that, then I have an obligation to be here and speak,” Chief Johnny Teehee said, according to the Omaha-World Herald.
The four officers declined to attend, with Teehee noting “they just didn’t think they were ready to do this.”
“They said, ‘Chief, I’m not going to be able to do this, but will you let this family know that I love them, and we hold no ill will?”
Steven appeared to have forgiven the officers, saying they “were doing their jobs, they’re in pain and they had no idea that they were even teens,” according to the report.