More than a thousand people jammed the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception yesterday and many more – ordinary citizens and a blue sea of grieving officers – gathered outside to pay tribute to a decorated Denver police detective gunned down in cold blood early last Sunday.
The heart of a saddened city wept and bade farewell to Donald Young.
Young and Detective John Bishop, who was wounded, were working off-duty security for a baptismal celebration at a banquet hall when a man believed to be Raul Garcia-Gomez shot at them from behind. It was a moment in time that will last forever, the epitome of senseless tragedy.
Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput and the clergy officiating at the Mass led the city in wrapping its arms around Young’s wife, Kelly; their daughters, Courtney and Kelsey; and a son, Tanner, to comfort and console them.
In addition to Young’s family and police comrades, mourners included top state and city officials. The ancient rituals of the Catholic Church and the words of the Gospel reading from John 14 offered solace: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”
“Police work is not simply a personal choice,” Chaput told the congregation. “It’s a family choice.” A life of “risk and sacrifice is not just an officer’s burden” but also one for his or her family.
“We have freedom and life because people like Detective Young take the risk of standing on the wall that separates us from the things that would hurt us,” Chaput said. He challenged mourners to live “our lives in a manner worthy of their sacrifice.”
Police Chief Gerry Whitman expressed “deepest sympathies” to the Young family and apologetically said, as the bells of mourning chimed for Young, that the suspect hadn’t been arrested. He hoped for a “safe, quick resolution.” So do we.
Young was the 60th Denver police officer to be killed in the line of duty since the department’s earliest days. The memory of the sacrifices of Young and the 59 officers who came before him should not be allowed to fade with the melancholy notes of the bagpipes that keened his lament.
