'He had a lot ahead for him': Hundreds gather to mourn slain Chicago officer

Before the doors of Blake-Lamb Funeral Home were even open, dozens of people - many in uniform, some not - were already in line to get inside to pay their respects to Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso, who was shot and killed last week.

People waiting to enter huddled inside a tent adjacent to the Oak Lawn funeral home. Dozens of officers, including two on horseback, stood in front. And a fire engine parked across from the funeral home extended its ladder over 103rd Street with an American flag hanging at the end.

They all were there for the same reason: to celebrate the life of an officer shot to death at 32.

"He had a lot ahead for him," said Ald. Silvana Tabares, whose 23rd Ward includes the section of Marquette Park where Vásquez Lasso lived with his wife and daughter.

"It's a sad day for the city of Chicago. Their pain is our pain," Tabares said, referring to the officer's family.

See the full story at chicago.suntimes.com.