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‘They wanted to be The Police’
Special tribute section to
Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo
End of Watch: December 17, 2018
Stories by Mitchell Krugel and Dan Campana Photography by H. Rick Bamman and Nick Swedberg
When the call came of shots fired shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 17, 5th District Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo re- sponded with the determination to get yet another illegal weapon off the City’s streets. It was this sense of urgency that led them to putting thoughts of their own well-being aside, Superintendent Eddie Johnson praised. It was this sense of duty that led Officers Gary and Marmolejo up the embankment toward the Metra tracks in pursuit of an armed offender that night.
Responding without hesitation, without regret and without fear marked the night that the Chicago Police Department suffered one of its worst tragedies ever. But it will be remembered for the two officers who made that journey up to the tracks, side by side, and had each other’s backs until the last moment.
“They died, unfortunately, doing what they love,” noted Scott Carter, a sergeant in 005 who worked with both Gary and Marmo- lejo. “They wanted to be the police.”
Hundreds upon hundreds of officers could not hide their sor- row as they lined up in the rain outside a Blake-Lamb funeral home on consecutive nights. Or on consecutive mornings, when they trembled in the cold while standing in formation to salute
the flag-draped caskets of their fallen brothers.
Gathered together to mourn the sudden sting of losing two offi-
cers in a single incident, the officers did so with the pain of Officer Samuel Jimenez’s death less than a month earlier still fresh in their minds. All that sadness, coupled with the death of Commander Paul Bauer in February, made 2018 an unrelentingly heartbreak- ing year for the Department.
Solace came for the Department in realizing that Gary and Marmolejo were out there doing what they wanted to do, being with people they wanted to be with.
“They didn’t have to go up there. We see bad guys all the time that get away,” added Officer John Crotty, who also works in 005. “They followed him because they said, ‘not today.’”
A lasting and sustaining sentiment came from Johnson.
“Thank you for showing all of us the true meaning of bravery and what it means to be a Chicago Police Officer,” he stated. “This is what we ask our police officers to do. This call to serve is what defined Officers Gary and Marmolejo. It’s what made them he- roes.”
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2019 29