Tuesday was a somber morning on the Hill. The United States Capitol Police held a memorial service to honor the four officers who have died in the line of duty since 1984.
While an annual event, this year’s had added poignancy. It’s the 20th anniversary of the deaths of officer Jacob Chestnut and detective John Gibson, who died July 24, 1998, in a gunman’s attack on the Capitol.
Sergeants Christopher S. Eney and Clinton J. Holtz are the other officers who died while serving the force. Eney was accidentally shot during a training exercise in 1984, and Holtz died after a cardiac event in 2014.
Here’s 2018’s event in photos:
Blue ribbons, a rose and a copy of Roll Call’s coverage of the July 24, 1998, shooting were on display at the service on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Rev. Patrick J. Conroy, the newly reinstated chaplain for the House of Representatives, participates in the service. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Chief Matthew Verderosa takes the podium at Tuesday’s memorial. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Through the years of the annual memorial event:
July 28, 1998: U.S. Capitol Police officer T.J. Wissemann hugs fellow officer S.I. Flax to console him. Flax had become emotional while guarding the Capitol after the bodies of slain U.S. Capitol Police officers John Gibson and Jacob J. Chestnut arrived to lie in honor in the Rotunda. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call file photo)
May 5, 2003: The 136th U.S. Capitol Police cadet class attend a ceremony rededicating the Capitol Police Headquarters the “Eney Chestnut Gibson Memorial Building,” after three officers killed in the line of duty. (CQ Roll Call file photo)
July 24. 2012: U.S. Capitol Police Officer Gene Petty stands on ceremonial duty before an annual wreath-laying ceremony for Chestnut and Gibson. The ceremony took place at an entrance to the Capitol dedicated to the slain officers. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)
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