Across New York, Mourners Find Ways Big and Small to Honor Slain Officers
Among the traditional white roses and flickering candles at the memorial for the two slain New York City police officers were baskets of poinsettias, evergreen wreaths, three potted Christmas trees and a menorah tied with blue balloons.
Amid the city’s customary pre-Christmas bustle, on Tuesday New Yorkers made gestures large and small to commemorate the officers who were shot in their squad car on Saturday afternoon. At the site of the killings, at the corner of Myrtle and Tompkins Avenues in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, a constant line of mourners gathered by the growing memorial, which was sheltered from a cold, steady drizzle by a black tarp. Many clutched bouquets or gifts. Others bowed their heads in prayer for Officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, of the 84th Precinct. A cardboard poster displayed their photos beneath a message scrawled in black marker: “We all mourn with you.”
Felicia Oquendo, 61, a retired UPS administrator, rode two buses from her home in Maspeth, Queens, and put off cooking Christmas Eve dinner for her family so that she could pay her respects in person. Ms. Oquendo, who did not know the officers, said she had not been so deeply moved since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when she went to ground zero two weeks later to pray for the victims.
More: Across New York, Mourners Find Ways Big and Small to Honor Slain Officers