Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Missouri State Patrolman Jimmie Linegar was killed near Branson on April 15, 1985, after being shot four times with an automatic weapon by a member of the violent neo-Nazi group called The Order. Linegar was one of 716 members of law enforcement who have died in the line of duty in Missouri since records were kept. They are listed on the Missouri Law Enforcement Wall of Honor in Jefferson City.
Last weekend, a law enforcement member close to home was added to the memorial that pays tribute to the officers who perished in the line of duty. Richard Allen Wright, who worked at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia, was one of four officers who died of COVID-19 in the line of duty during 2020.
JEFFERSON CITY â Hundreds of law enforcement officers and families from across the state gathered at the state capitol Saturday morning to remember officers killed in the line of duty over the past year.
The ceremony returned to the Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial after being held virtually in 2020. Organizers of the memorial echoed that events over the last year have highlighted the profession s importance. Missouri Department of Public Safety The recent spade of mass shootings have shown us that this country needs our heroes in blue more than ever. If not for the men and women whose names adorn these walls, society would fall in the face of fear and peril, Missouri Fraternal Order of Police president Rick Inglima said.
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Gone but not forgotten: Ceremonies honor Missouri officers who made the ultimate sacrifice
There are now 716 names that can be found along the walls of Missouri’s Law Enforcement Memorial outside the state Capitol in Jefferson City. Those names are sitting on the Wall of Honor to pay tribute to officers who gave their lives to protect and serve others.
Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial (Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Public Safety’s Flickr page)
Eight names of officers who died in the line of duty in 2020 and seven others killed between 1907 and 1946 were added to the wall as part of annual ceremonies to remember Missouri’s fallen men and women in blue.
Six Missouri law-enforcement officers and two corrections officers who died in the line of duty in between in 2020 were honored on Saturday, May 1, during Missouri’s annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service for those who have paid the ultimate price for their service protecting their fellow Missourians.
Officers, their families and friends from across the state gathered as the service returned to the Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial on the grounds to the state Capitol, after being held virtually last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to the officers who died in 2020, the names of seven law-enforcement officers whose historical line-of-duty deaths recently confirmed also were added to the memorial’s “Wall of Honor.”
Loved ones, law enforcement community say goodbye to fallen Moline Acres Sgt. Herschel Turner Ashley Cole, Justina Coronel
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Loved ones said goodbye to a fallen Moline Acres police sergeant Monday.
Turner s memorial service began shortly after 10 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. The church provided a livestream of the services on its website. You can watch the full services by clicking here or clicking play in the YouTube video below.
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Many people lined up outside the funeral chapel ahead of the visitation.
One of those people included Craig Lovings who worked with Turner in Pagedale.