BOSTON – Thousands of police officers and mourners attended the memorial service to honour campus police officer Sean Collier, who authorities say was shot and killed during a gun battle with the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
As many as 10,000 people were expected at Briggs Field on campus. They had to make their way through tight security, including metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs ahead of the service.
A funeral was held Tuesday for Collier, as well as a funeral for 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in the bombing.
In this picture, a photograph of fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier is attached to a cross at a makeshift memorial on the MIT campus, in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, April 24, 2013. AP Photo
A Revere, Mass. police captain holds his cap while entering a memorial service for fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, April 24, 2013. AP Photo
Members of a police honor guard, front, lead a column of law enforcement officials into the memorial service. AP Photo
School President L. Rafael Reif told those gathered that Collier not only had a job at MIT, but also had a life at MIT.
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The line of mourners stretched for about a half mile at the MIT on Wednesday ahead of the service.
Police from Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and Sûreté du Québec and other forces also attended the memorial service for Collier.
“It’s a professional courtesy,” said Constable Martin Simard with the Longueuil police.
“When one of our officers with the SQ was killed, there were police from Massachusetts who came up here.”
In this photo below, a woman wipes tears as she arrives at a memorial service for fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus officer Sean Collier on April 24, 2013. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
Police officers look at the program notes as they arrive to the memorial service at MIT on April 24, 2013. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
People arrive to the memorial service for fallen MIT campus officer Sean Collier on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. AP Photo
Mourners read the program while entering the memorial service for Sean Collier. Getty Images
Police officers salute during the memorial service for MIT police officer Sean Collier on April 24, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Getty Images
Mourners enter the memorial service Sean Collier on April 24, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Getty Images
– With a file from The Gazette
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