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In a procession so long it delayed the start of the funeral, law enforcement officers from as far away as Chicago on Friday paused at the open casket and saluted Fulton County Police Detective Terence Avery Green, a 22-year veteran ambushed and shot to death nine days ago in a Fairburn subdivision.
Green, 48, was the first U.S. police officer killed by gunfire in 2015 following a year that saw a 50 percent increase in the number of cops shot to death in the line of duty, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
The sacrifices made daily by the officers in attendance, and those all over the country, also were remembered by many of the speakers Friday at Green’s “homecoming” service.
“Your lives matter as well,” Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves told the crowd, recasting a hashtag popularized on social media following police-involved killings in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y.
Green’s spirit will live on in his four sons, who were always his first priority, friends and family told approximately 1,500 mourners who filled the sprawling World Changers Church chapel in College Park.
Photographs of Green’s smiling face surrounded his eulogizers, a testament to the warmth exuded by the Atlanta native and Morris Brown graduate, said Fulton County Police Capt. Gary T. Johnson.
“Terence tried his best to share himself,” said Johnson, commander of the Blue Nights unit that was on duty the night Green was shot in the back of the head. Amanuel Menghesha, 42, was arrested and charged with his killing, accused of lying in wait for Green and three other Fulton officers.
“I hope we can follow Terence’s ideal and share more of ourselves and our love,” Johnson said.
In a statement, Governor Nathan Deal commended Green’s service, saying his “sacrifice renders a debt that cannot be repaid.”
Eldest son Marquis Green remembered his father’s ungainly but winning strut, one that earned him the nickname, Pigeon, and generous spirit.
“He’d give the coat off his back to a stranger,” Marquis Green said. “He would always say, ‘Son, I’ll never let you down.’ No didn’t exist in his vocabulary for me and my brothers.”
Calvin Vannoy said his late friend’s father, Johnny Green, urged him not to be angry, reminding him that even his son’s killer deserved forgiveness.
“We need to learn how to forgive. We need to learn how to love,” Vannoy said.
It’s a lesson Terence Green knew well.
“I talked to him daily,” said retired Fulton police Lt. Gerald Hightower. “He’s the one who always watched over me.”
The late detective’s mother, Bertha Green, offered comfort with a poem she wrote that concluded, “I can envision Heaven so plainly and I can see Terence talking with his Savior and he’s as happy as he can be.”
Following the service, the procession of officers led Green’s flag-draped coffin to its final resting place, at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens cemetery in College Park.
“Hold your head up high. Terence lived a good life. He was faithful in everything he did,” said the Rev. Toney Mosley, Green’s pastor at Woods Memorial Baptist Church. Services were moved to World Changers to accommodate the large crowd.
Mosley closed by reminding mourners Green “has been promoted to a better place.”
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