Slain Chicago police officer remembered as a hero at funeral in Des Plaines
Editor's note: This story was changed to correct the name of the cemetery where Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez was buried. He was buried at Ridgewood Memorial Park in Des Plaines
Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez was remembered at his funeral in a Des Plaines church as a hero who saved countless lives before he was killed by a gunman in a hospital.
Scores of police from across the country and other mourners - including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner - attended Monday's funeral Mass led by Cardinal Blase Cupich at the Chapel of St. Joseph at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Jimenez, 28, who became a Chicago officer nearly two years ago, regularly attended services there with his family.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who spoke toward the end of the Mass and outside the River Road church, said Jimenez was a hero who never will be forgotten for his selflessness.
Jimenez and another cop were bringing a package to a police station outside their district when they heard the active shooter call for Mercy Hospital on Chicago's South Side. Johnson said Jimenez saved "countless lives" in an effort to stop the gunman who killed a doctor and a pharmacist before taking the officer's life Nov. 19.
"If I can just leave you all with one thing, it would be not to remember how Officer Jimenez died," Johnson said. "Remember how he lived. Everybody that you talk to about this young man, he was a dedicated father, family man, police officer."
Officer Armando Zambrano said he was with Jimenez for what should have been the routine delivery to the 1st District station. After the funeral, he reflected on what happened and said the men didn't think about their families and were not scared as they raced to Mercy Hospital.
"It's a day that I will never forget," an emotional Zambrano said. "He was a great man. All he wanted that day was to go get his coffee like we always did."
Police cars began streaming into Our Lady of Guadalupe's parking lot well before the 11 a.m. Mass. Blue ribbons in honor of Jimenez decorated fences on each side of River Road outside All Saints Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Des Plaines.
Members of the Chicago police Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society played as Jimenez's body arrived at the church. The Emerald Society played "Amazing Grace" when Jimenez's body was brought out after the funeral.
Sharon Langlotz-Johnson, a retired Des Plaines officer now working as Palatine Township's supervisor, was among those in the Emerald Society who honored Jimenez.
"It makes us feel like we're doing something for the family," Langlotz-Johnson said. "It's a little bit that we can do."
Jimenez is survived by his wife, Crystal Garcia, and three children. Emanuel presented a folded city of Chicago flag that was on Jimenez's casket to his widow before his body was placed in a hearse for the trip to Ridgewood Memorial Park in Des Plaines.
Emanuel said Jimenez's courageous actions always will be remembered in Chicago. He said the fallen officer, who lived in the Edison Park neighborhood, had a love of family and city.
"His wife, Crystal, and his three children were his whole world," Emanuel said. "He said he wanted to be someone they could be proud of. He said he wanted to be someone that they could look up to."
Mourners filled the 1,000-seat Chapel of St. Joseph. Several hundred others watched a feed of the funeral in another building.
Chicago police said the hospital gunman killed himself after being shot by officers.