U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced Preston Chyenne Johnson, 38, 200 months – more than 16 years – for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Johnson on Oct. 31, 2019 – four months before Officer Nick O’Rear was killed – was in possession of an Anderson AM-15 5.6 mm rifle.
In 2021, the names of 394 officers killed in the line of duty were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. These 394 officers included 295 (182 fatalities are COVID-19-related) officers who were killed during 2020, plus 99 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.
From The Tribune staff reports
KIMBERLY Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall will pay tribute to Kimberly Police Department fallen officer Nick O’Rear at a law enforcement ceremony Tuesday afternoon in Kimberly.
Marshall will join Kimberly Police Chief Ricky Pridmore in paying tribute to O’Rear, who lost his life in the line of duty on Feb. 5, 2020. The father of three was fatally shot that night during a pursuit on Interstate 65 South.
The attorney general will present a commemoration in recognition of O’Rear’s service and sacrifice to be displayed prominently at the Kimberly Police Department.
The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. in Kimberly.
‘He was a hero’: Slain Kimberly Police Officer Nick O’Rear honored on first anniversary of his death
Updated Feb 05, 2021;
It was one year ago today that Kimberly Police Officer Nick O’Rear died after he was shot in the line of duty on Interstate 65.
Family, friends and coworkers gathered Friday in his memory to mark the solemn anniversary, and to see, for the first time, interstate signs that will be placed in his honor on the stretch of roadway where he was killed.
The Officer Nick O’Rear Memorial Highway is on I-65 between mile markers 280 and 281. The signs, which will be placed northbound and southbound, were unveiled by State Rep. Allen Treadaway, State Sen. Shay Shelnutt and Kimberly Mayor Bob Ellerbrook at a ceremony held at the Kimberly Fire Station.