US President Joe Biden and congressional leaders paid their respects to an officer struck by a car and killed while he manned a barricade near the Senate side of the building the invasion of the Capitol Hill in January.
The coffin of slain Police Officer William ‘Billy’ Evans arrived at the Capitol on Tuesday as Biden and other lawmakers lined up to honour the fallen patriot.
Evans’s coffin was placed in the Capitol Rotunda for the second such memorial ceremony this year for a force that has edged close to the crisis in the wake of the January 6 insurrection.
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‘Twice in two months have many of us have been brought together here in the Capitol Rotunda, united in grief, to mourn the life and loss of heroes in uniform,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
‘Months after the January 6 assault on our democracy, the men and women of the Capitol Police were again called to duty. On April 2, Officer Evans answered that call and, giving his life to protect the Capitol and our country … he became a martyr.’
Members of the National Guard lined the street and saluted as the hearse carrying Evans’s flag-draped coffin entered the Capitol complex. His former colleagues gathered on the Capitol’s East Front Plaza while church bells rang in the distance. His family, including his two children, gathered to watch as his coffin was carried up the Capitol steps.
Evans, 41, and another officer were struck on April 2 by a car driven by Noah Green, 25, who came out of the car with a knife and was shot to death by police. Investigators believe Green had been delusional and increasingly having suicidal thoughts.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
