"He gave his life for a woman and a child who needed his protection. This will be his legacy," Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet said in his eulogy.
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Updates stories published Friday at 7:22 a.m., 11:01 a.m. and 2:45 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD — Badge No. 7 was honored well.
A vast border of uniformed police lined the procession to slain officer Kevin Ambrose’s funeral Mass and burial Friday, while thousands of members of the public standing along the route waved flags and wiped away tears.
Ambrose’s police cruiser, driven by fellow officer and longtime friend Kevin Burnham, was at the head of the procession from funeral home to church. Inside the church, an arrangement of green carnations in the shape of his badge No. 7 was displayed at the altar. A spokesman for the Springfield Police Department said 6,000 out-of-town police officers came from as far as Canada to pay their respects.
All raised fingers to brows in salute as the hearse rolled up to St. Catherine of Siena Church on Parker Street, the center of the outpouring of public support for Ambrose, killed in the line of duty answering a routine 911 call for a domestic dispute on Monday.
Police say New York City corrections officer Shawn Bryan fatally shot Ambrose as he accompanied Bryan to his estranged girlfriend’s apartment to retrieve a television. Bryan also shot his ex-girlfriend, Charlene Mitchell, as the couple’s 1-year-old daughter watched.
Bryan fatally shot himself a short time after he killed Ambrose. The child was unharmed and Mitchell is in stable condition at a Worcester hospital recovering from multiple bullet wounds, according to police.
Two of Mitchell’s cousins were among the mourners who lined the streets outside, holding a picture of their wounded relative and her two children. The women credited Ambrose with saving the lives of Mitchell and the child.
Ambrose’s widow, Carla, blew the women a kiss through the window as the family car proceeded to the burial.
During the Mass, Ambrose, 55, was recalled as a hero, a devoted cop and family man, and the best opposite-field hitter in the policeman’s softball league. Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet delivered one of two moving eulogies, telling mourners Ambrose, a 36-year-veteran, was at once courageous and compassionate.
“One of his greatest qualities was that he was tough but never mean. He died helping people that he didn’t know. He gave his life for a woman and a child who needed his protection,” Fitchet said. “This will be his legacy. Years from now men and women that we don’t yet know will speak of him with reverence.”
Raymond Muise, a retired police officer, longtime friend and former partner of Ambrose, inspired tears, laughter and applause with his tribute.
“As I put pen to paper for this ... I realized I cannot share 99 percent of my stories about my buddy,” Muise said, prompting laughter, before painting a picture of himself and Ambrose as rookie cops in a three-man car in the 1970s.
“We were so young ... We worked in a high-crime area and we weren’t afraid of anything,” Muise said.
He recalled walking in a funeral march in 1985 for slain officers Alain Beauregard and Michael Schiavina – previously the most recent Springfield officers to be killed in the line of duty.
“We went through a series of ‘what ifs?’ What if it was one of us. We talked about it but we never thought it could happen to us because we thought we were invincible,” the former officer said, before choking up. “If it did, we never wanted anyone to cry for us. But I have to confess, I broke that rule.”
The Most Rev. Timothy J. McDonnell, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, blessed the casket as mourners emerged from the church.
Outside the church, many of the officers standing in formation said Ambrose’s slaying made them pause to think about their own mortality.
“You don’t have to be a police officer very long to realize it’s a very special way to make a living. One of the things we do is to put ourselves deliberately in harm’s way to protect others. All of the cops here know this could happen to us,” said Sgt. John B. Kliever, a 14-year veteran of the Newport, R.I., Police Department.
It took 15 minutes for the funeral procession to leave Sampson’s Chapel of the Acres funeral home on Tinkham Road. Many nearby residents came out of their homes to raise flags in tribute, including Darlene and Dottie Buoniconti.
“He protected our neighborhood ... He was a good man,” Dottie Buoniconti said. “With so much stuff going on in this city, it’s nice to see this (support). I hope more people come out.”
Buoniconti needn’t have worried. Thousands of bystanders, old and young, lined Parker Street.
Xavier Davis, 3, and wearing a tiny toy police hat, came from his Sixteen Acres home with his mother to join the throngs.
“He has wanted to be a police officer since he could watch television,” Sarah Davis said. “We told him that the police officer got hurt, and that he should wear his hat to say thank you.”
Also attending the funeral Mass were Gov. Deval L. Patrick, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who wore white gloves along with all the police mourners.
Springfield police spokesman Sgt. John M. Delaney said 300 city officers attended the funeral, along with 100 retired officers, including past police chiefs Paula Meara and Daniel Spellacy, plus 100 of the department’s civilian workers. All marched from the funeral home to the church and joined the larger procession that traveled on foot to the cemetery. A large American flag hung suspended from two Fire Department ladder trucks near the entrance.
At the end of the funeral ceremony, city officers placed white gloves on the casket.
Parker Street was closed at 9:30 a.m. and side streets were blocked.
Following the burial, Spirit of Springfield hosted an outdoor reception for all police who attended and their families at Court Square.
Among the crowd were relatives of Beauregard and Schiavina, who sat together at one table.
While that reception was going on, the Ambrose family held a private post-funeral gathering at One Financial Plaza, overlooking the cordoned-off reception below.
Late in the afternoon, Fitchet led a stream of officers into the building to present Ambrose’s Badge No. 7 to Carla Ambrose.
Those in attendance said it was a both a touching and wrenching moment.
“They were all crying. All the police officers were embracing each other,” said Judith A. Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield.
A silence fell over the room as Fitchet stepped forward to hand the badge to the widow, observers said.
“There was a feeling in there that this was a special and unique event happening,” said family friend Bill Wells, of Wilbraham. “Carla and the family were obviously very moved, and after Mr. Fitchet presented the badge, the room gave a very long and loud ovation.”
One might say the sweeping tribute to Ambrose was a long and loud ovation in itself.
During his liturgy at the Mass, Rev. Joseph Soranno, Ambrose’s pastor at his church in Wilbraham, told mourners they had gathered to pay homage to a rarity.
“Badge number seven, a fallen hero. A brave, courageous man doing his duty. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for another,” the priest said.
Staff reporters Buffy Spencer, Jim Kinney, George Graham, Peter Goonan and Mike Plaisance contributed to this report
Kevin Ambrose Funeral Homily