The pews of St. Christina’s Parish were a sea of black and blue Sunday morning, with uniformed Chicago police officers scattered among the congregants.
Many proudly adhered fallen Chicago police Officer Enrique Martinez’s face to their chests. “In loving memory,” read the buttons that were being passed out to those filing into the Mount Greenwood Catholic church to honor the slain officer’s life and service to the city.
The 26-year-old had been working in the police force just shy of three years when he was shot and killed shortly after 8 p.m. Nov. 4 while responding to a traffic stop in Chatham.
Rev. Ryan Brady’s call to action less than a week after Martinez was “cruelly and wickedly gunned down on our city streets” was straightforward: pray.
“Prayer changes things. It changes hearts. It makes a difference,” he said. “Adrian and Rosa Martinez — Enrique’s parents — they are feeling the uplifting effects of our prayer, of our faith and our love.”
However, the priest also lamented what he called a pattern of violence against first responders.
“Violence against the police is a scourge that seemingly never ends,” he said, blaming city, state and federal policies for allowing too many weapons to get into the hands of dangerous people. “We can and should be outraged.”
Martinez’s alleged shooter Darion C. McMillian, a 23-year-old man from Harvey, removed a court-sanctioned ankle monitor tied to pending drug charges in the aftermath of the shooting, according to prosecutors. Chicago police said McMillian also shot his 23-year-old front-seat passenger during the altercation. Cook County judge Deidre Dyer has ordered that he remain detained while awaiting trial for first-degree murder of an officer and first-degree murder, among other felonies.
Last week’s police shooting comes less than two months after St. Christina’s Parish convened for a Mass in honor of first responders. There, the mother of slain officer Ella French was presented with a donation for her new organization supporting on-duty officers. French was similarly shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2021.
“It hurts. It just hurts,” said Ella’s mother Elizabeth French following Sunday’s Mass. “It just breaks my heart because I know what that mother and father, their family is going through.”
Elizabeth French said she has yet to speak with the Martinez family but is available if they want her support. She is in regular contact with the parents of Aréanah Preston and André Vásquez Lasso, two officers killed last year.
Lee Bielecki, a retired sergeant, was among those in attendance Sunday morning and also at the University of Chicago Medical Center last Monday night in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. As a peer support volunteer with the police force, he has been helping officers cope with last week’s events.
“It’s a time to grieve,” he said outside St. Christina’s Parish Sunday. “People in the community, not just our community, communities all around the city, need to do reflection. It doesn’t matter if it’s faith or just ‘Hey, I’m not gonna out there and commit a crime today. I’m gonna try to do a kindness every day.’’
The police force, family and friends continue to mourn Martinez’s death. His funeral will held Nov. 18 at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel in Ashburn following a visitation Sunday afternoon in Oaklawn.
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