‘They put others before themselves’: 3 slain CPD officers memorialized

The union representing thousands of rank-and-file Chicago police officers paid its respects to three colleagues who were killed in the line of duty last year.

Tuesday, the Fraternal Order of Police added the names of Officers Samuel Jimenez, Eduardo Marmolejo and Conrad Gary to a wall outside the union’s headquarters that commemorates officers who were killed on the job.

“These three officers answered the call without question,” Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham said. “They put others before themselves. Whether it was responding to a call of shots fired or running into gunfire to save others, these three officers died as they lived their lives — proud and courageous, setting an example for others.””

Jimenez was killed on Nov. 19, 2018 as he and other officers worked to subdue a gunman who also killed a doctor — the gunman’s former fiancée — and pharmacy resident at Mercy Hospital.

Eduardo Marmolejo and Conrad Gary were fatally struck by a South Shore train on the Far South Side on Dec. 17. The two officers were responding to a call of shots fired and they scaled the train’s embankment before they were hit by a train.

Also killed last year was CPD Cmdr. Paul Bauer, whose name was previously etched on the FOP memorial at an earlier ceremony.

Speaking with a sense of both “immense pride but also profound sadness,” CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said the fallen officers “dedicated their lives to a higher calling as public servants and defenders of our great city.”

“How each of these men lived their lives is a testament to the definitions of heroism and valor,” Johnson said. “Commander Bauer and police officers Jimenez, Gary and Mamolejo didn’t run away, but rather towards the sound of danger. When duty called they responded because that’s what we do as Chicago police officers.”

After the engraved names of Jimenez, Marmolejo and Gary were blessed by CPD Chaplain Fr. Dan Brandt, Johnson embraced members of the fallen officers’ families.

Rabbi Moshe Wolf, another CPD chaplain, said the officers’ deaths serve as a reminder that “nobody’s guaranteed tomorrow.”

“They went to work, all expecting to come home, and they didn’t,” Wolf said. “The lesson is make the most of every day, find something to laugh about every day, even if you have to look in the mirror.”