Officers from across Ohio and as far away as Canada were on hand for the memorial service honoring Phillip Wagner, the 35-year-old Lorain police officer who died after an ambush attack on him and two other officers.
Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel and Attorney General Dave Yost were also among those packed into Rocket Arena in Downtown Cleveland.
During the memorial, Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley had this message for Wagner's three children.
"Your father was a champion," Bradley said. "He loved all of you with his whole heart and worked to make the world safer for you every single day."
Wagner died last week, a day after a gunman shot at him and fellow officer Peter Gale as they ate lunch in their cruisers. Brent Payne, another officer, was shot multiple times when he came to help. Officials say police returned fire, and the suspect, Michael Parker, died at the scene.
Wagner died Thursday evening at Metro Health in Cleveland where he and fellow officer Brent Payne had been life flighted. Payne watched from a wheelchair as Wagner’s body was taken from MetroHealth, despite having been in surgery just hours earlier.
The loss rippled through Lorain. On the evening of Wagner's death, hundreds of Lorain residents gathered to mourn Wagner and show support for the other two injured officers, who have since been discharged from the hospital.
“We promise to never forget Officer Phillip Wagner," Father Doug Brown, Cleveland Division of Police's chaplain, said at Wednesday's memorial. "We promise our support to his family that we will remain with them, standing with them."
Bradley doubled down on that commitment, declaring a day in Wagner's honor.
"Every year on July 24, the City of Lorain will acknowledge and dedicate that day to Officer Phillip Wagner's honor," he said.
Lorain Police Chief Michael Failing said days before he died, Wagner had gotten his SWAT pin after a year of training.
"We have heard the term a few times now: hero," Pastor Josh Smith said." And I learned that Phil did not like that word for quite some time when he returned from his deployments. And he was called a hero over and over again. And it never set well with him because his definition of a hero is someone who laid their life down for others. So today, we come together to honor the hero, Phil Wagner."
At Wednesday's memorial, Jay MacDonald, the President of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, called the attack part of a larger "war on police."
Elyria police and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation are currently investigating a motive, which remains unclear. Police say Park had multiple high-powered rifles, handguns and the explosive Tannerite in his car parked nearby the scene.
"His story may have been short, shorter than it should have been, but it is not over," MacDonald said. "It will live on in the love you shared, in the lives he inspired, and in the hearts of his fellow officers. Badge 4178 will never be forgotten."
