Page 38 - December 2018

Honoring a Hero
Salute to a Hero
Thousands of police officers come to honor Brother Jimenez
■ BY DAN CAMPANA
■ PHOTOS BY NICK SWEDBERG AND H. RICK BAMMAN
The frigid breeze rattled the snow and ice-covered tree branches outside St. Jo- seph Chapel at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, but it did not faze the hundreds of Chicago Police Officers who stood at atten- tion in their dress blues for what seemed like an hour to offer a final salute and honor their fallen brother, Officer Samuel Jimenez.
“Our city is poorer today because of his death,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said during funeral services held Nov. 26 for the 28-year-old Jimenez, who fulfilled a life- long dream of becoming a police officer by joining the Chicago Police Department less than two years ago.
One week earlier, Jimenez had rushed into Mercy Hospital in response to a call of an active shooter and was killed. At the fu- neral – and the day before, during the six- hour visitation at Oehler Funeral Home – the thousands of officers who came formed the blue line that paid tribute to Jimenez in perhaps the most appropriate way.
Cardinal Cupich called on those who packed the chapel, crowded into over- flow areas to observe the services on TV or
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2018
The CPD Honor Guard salutes Officer Samuel Jimenez after the funeral while a bugler performs ‘Taps.’