Community supports Lorain Police Department after ambush, shooting of 3 officers

Yahoo

4 days ago

LORAIN, Ohio (WJW) – After community members learned that three Lorain Police officers were ambushed and shot on Wednesday, a memorial began to grow outside the Lorain Police Department.
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That continued on Thursday as people who wanted to offer support or simply pay their respects stopped by the station where a Lorain Police cruiser is now parked out front near the memorial.
Lifelong Lorain resident Debbie Siss told Fox 8 News she saw the flags outside at half-staff and felt compelled to stop.
'It makes me feel sad, and it makes me love Lorain even more because our police officers, they protect us. They help us, and to have somebody just shooting them down, that's chicken. He's a big chicken,' she said about the deceased suspect accused of shooting the officers.
A group of about a dozen retired Lorain officers were set to get together for a reunion on Wednesday. One of them is Larry Giese, who spent 20 of his 28 years with LPD as the head K-219 trainer.
He shared that he wanted to offer his support to those he still knows at the department. He added that he and his fellow retirees hope the community backs Lorain officers moving forward.
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He doesn't believe he could handle being an officer in today's world.
'You know, maybe someone will start paying attention to what this police work is all about,' he said. 'It's bad. I mean, it's bad. You just don't know anymore. There's too much gun play going on.'
Another retiree from law enforcement, Stephani Loffredo now runs a nonprofit in Las Vegas called Courtroom Critters, which offers support to those in crisis through therapy dogs.
The former mounted officer who spent 10 years with the Geauga County Sheriff's Office said she happened to be visiting home with a therapy dog named Hufflepuff.
When she learned of the tragedy she decided to bring Hufflepuff the bulldog to the Lorain Police Department to try and help officers cope because she knows the kind of trauma this situation can cause.
'Police officers, we need them so much, and every police officer is a hero and they also need the support from the community so that when this type of tragedy happens, that these officers are getting that support,' Laffredo said. 'All of the officers are going to go through some sort of trauma and all of the officers need a little bit of wellness checkup, and sometimes just a great therapy dog can help them out a lot.'
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Northeast Ohioans are also showing support with monetary donations.
The sister-in-law of the youngest of the three officers, Phil Wagner, started a GoFundMe page to accept donations from people who were asking how they can help.
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