'Justice, Protection, & Loyalty': Coloradans Pay Their Respects To Fallen Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley
LAFAYETTE, Colo. (CBS4) - People who never met Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley paid their respects on Tuesday outside his funeral service and along the procession to Flatirons Community Church. Some brought the Thin Blue Line flag to honor Beesley for his sacrifice.
"I'm waving this flag, his spirit will still live on no matter what," said Connor Finley, 15, a high school student from Thornton. "I'm happy to see that there are people who are willing to give up time and their day and support the police."
Beesley was shot and killed in Olde Town Arvada on June 21. Beesley normally served as a school resource officer, but was on patrol duty for the summer.
Finley said he did not know Beesley but as the son of a police officer, he felt it was important to pay tribute to the commitment Beesley made to protect others. He arrived as the procession was ending and the funeral service had just begun. He stood at one corner of the sidewalk outside the church and never put the flag down.
"He gave up his life to respond to a call where people were in danger," Finley told CBS4. "Thank you for everything you have given up and how brave you were."
Finley's mother is an officer and he wanted the flag, a symbol of the pledge police make, to remind everyone who passed him on the street to take a moment and think about Beesley, someone he will never get to meet.
"Justice, Protection, and Loyalty," he said of the flag and what it represents. "To all police officers listening, thank you for your service and you will always be remembered as the brave."
Monetary donations to Beesley's family may be made through the Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation. Gov. Jared Polis ordered flags to be flown at half staff until sunset on Tuesday.