Fallen Milwaukee Police Officer Mourned, Miles-Long Procession

MILWAUKEE, WI — Police departments across southeastern Wisconsin and beyond sought to show solidarity, while local officers and even more mourned after the fatal on-duty shooting of 37-year-old Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving early Tuesday morning.

Jerving's funeral procession from downtown Milwaukee to Brookfield on Tuesday was lined with hundreds of first responders reaching nearly 20 miles long, according to a report by WISN12 and other outlets.

By Wednesday, police department social media accounts from across the region were marked by a Milwaukee police badge wrapped in a solid black mourning band.

A friend of Jerving's, Justin Sithivong, recounted memories of sports, cookouts and bonfires they had together to TMJ4 News. Sithivong told the television station "it gave him such hope and purpose to put on that vest and wear the blue, supporting the city."

Jerving, who had four years of experience with the agency, is the fifth Milwaukee police officer to be killed in the line of duty since 2018, according to a report by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Police said Jerving was killed when a struggle with a robbery suspect ended in gunfire. He had been called out to the 2700 block of south 14th Street around 1:15 a.m., Milwaukee Police Cheif Chief Jeffrey Norman told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

"One of our finest who put on that uniform put on that badge went into work last night and paid the ultimate sacrifice for protecting our community," said Norman at a conference Tuesday morning. "Milwaukee, we need your prayers, we need your support."

See also: Milwaukee Police Officer Killed In Robbery Investigation Identified

Politicians at local levels and beyond addresed the death, with several members of the Milwaukee Common Council issuing a joint statement asking community members "to pray for peace, for a stop to the normalization of gun carrying and/or gun culture, and for an end to senseless violence anywhere and everywhere in our city."