Community Says Goodbye To Slain Officer

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 2,000 people attended a funeral service Monday for slain Indianapolis police Officer Timothy "Jake" Laird, who was praised by the city's police chief and the mayor for his willingness to pursue a gunman for the sake of others' safety.

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At the service at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Laird was posthumously awarded his department's medal of honor and a Purple Heart medal.

Indianapolis police Chief Jerry Barker, who awarded the medals, said it takes "a special kind of person to run toward the sound of gunfire."

"It takes a cop. Certainly Jake was that special person and that special cop," Barker said.

Laird, 31, was one of five Indianapolis police officers shot early Wednesday on the city's southeast side. Laird was the only officer to die.

Police said Kenneth C. Anderson shot the officers after killing his mother. One of the wounded officers shot and killed Anderson, police said.

Friends, family members, and police and city officials spoke at the funeral. Laird was remembered as a loving father, a jokester and a man who gave his life to protect his fellow officers.

"By being a police officer, he chose to make a difference, and his death will make a difference as well," Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson said. "Others will live because he engaged a killer on those dark streets."

The service lasted more than two hours, ending around 1:30 p.m. Afterward, hundreds of patrol cars participated in a procession that went south into the downtown area and then north to Crown Hill Cemetery, where Laird was buried.

So that Indianapolis officers could attend the funeral, officers from 10 other police agencies covered their shifts, RTV6 reported.

Hundreds Attend Calling Hours Sunday

Hundreds of people -- including officers, family members and even strangers -- lined up outside Crown Hill Funeral Home on Sunday (pictured, left) to begin saying farewell to Laird.

Visitation went from 2 to 8 p.m.

Police officers from all over Indiana and from as far away as California attended.

One of Laird's brothers, Gabe Laird, said the support brought comfort to his family.

"It's a real sense of comfort to know this many people cared for my brother," he said.

Laird, a four-year veteran of the force, was married with a 7-year-old daughter, Kaylee, for whom a trust fund has been established, the police department said.

Donations to the Kaylee Laird Trust Fund can be made at the Indianapolis Police Department Credit Union, 1502 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46201.