The community comes together to support the family of fallen Lt. Michael Hoosock

It was a sunny Monday morning and a glittering sea of ​​police cars and fire trucks lined the road outside the Thomas J. Pirro Funeral Home. First responders prepared to escort Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael Hoosock to the New York State Fairgrounds for his funeral mass.

He and Syracuse Police Officer Michael Jensen were shot on Sunday, April 14, on Darien Drive in Salina.

Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for these officers, their families and the law enforcement community as it mourns the loss of two of them.

Brother and sister Ken Fike and Barbara Turner stood in the hearse waiting for Lt. Hoosock’s casket to leave, holding their hands over their hearts as flags flew as it passed by. “I wanted to make sure that the family and the officers knew that the community is behind them. I wanted to make sure that we were visible to them. That they had the support. We had one of the officers come over and give us and I thanked them for putting their lives on the line every day,” Fike said.

Turner said she met Lt. Hoosock, who she calls an “idiot,” through her job in the city of DeWitt.

He came in, dropped off the paperwork and made us laugh. We… you could tell he loved his community just by the service he did. We really need more people like him.

Just down the street from the funeral home is the area where Lieutenant Hoosock and Officer Jensen were murdered. Many came from their homes to line the road for Lieutenant Hoosock’s procession.

“It was just a tragedy. Two people were murdered for no reason. Not a good reason,” Michael Corbett said.

Jamey LaPorta wore blue in solidarity with the law enforcement community. She placed a blue ribbon on the signpost near her garden. “Such a small gesture, just to remind people… never to be forgotten,” she said. “You want to do something and if a ribbon is what I can do, then that’s the least I’ll do.”