The funeral service for fallen CPD Officer Enrique Martinez will be broadcast live on NBC 5, Telemundo Chicago and in the player above once it begins. It will be available in Spanish and English.
Chicago police officer Enrique Martinez, shot and killed during a traffic stop earlier this month, will be laid to rest at a funeral Monday, attended by dozens of first responders.
The funeral service comes a day after family and friends lined the sidewalk outside Blake Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn to pay their respects to Martinez during his visitation Sunday.
Martinez, 26, was recently engaged. He was barely in his third year with the department when he was fatally shot Nov. 4 while conducting a traffic stop near Ingleside Avenue and East 82nd Street. He is the fifth Chicago police officer to be shot and killed in three years.
“It’s like Chicago is suffering from a form of cancer,” said Eugene Roy, former Chicago police chief of detectives, during his visit Sunday. “It started quite mildly, but now it has turned into a full-blown disease and it is costing the lives of our citizens, our schoolchildren and even our police officers.”
Funeral services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel in Chicago. A procession is expected to follow the ceremony and some street closures may be in effect.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on NBC 5, Telemundo Chicago and in the player above once it begins. It will be available in Spanish and English.
In a change of course, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Saturday he would not attend Martinez’s funeral, adhering to a request from the slain officer’s family. The mayor had already indicated that he would attend. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said he would not attend the family’s request.
The man accused of fatally shooting Martinez was under electronic monitoring at the time of the incident and had a prior felony conviction, Chicago Police Supt. » Larry Snelling said.
Darian McMillian, 23, faced several charges in the shooting, including two counts of murder, attempted murder, possession of a machine gun and burglary, officials said.
“This offender is a convicted felon who was under electronic monitoring out of Will County,” Snelling said earlier this month at a news conference announcing the charges. “It goes without saying that this individual should not have been on our streets with a fully automatic weapon, a weapon used to kill Officer Martinez.”
Court records revealed that McMillian, who was in the front passenger seat during the traffic stop, possessed a weapon with a fully automatic switch for rapid fire. After striking and killing Martinez, as well as the driver of the vehicle, Martinez attempted to flee the scene, running to a nearby apartment and cutting off his electronic monitoring bracelet. He was taken into custody shortly after.
“Yet another young officer lost way too soon, trying to turn this city and its citizens around,” said Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara.
