RALEIGH, N.C. – Family, friends and law enforcement colleagues gathered Saturday morning in Raleigh to pay respects to Officer Gabriel Torres, who was killed Oct. 13 in the mass shooting in the city’s Hedingham neighborhood.
Torres' widow, Jasmin Torres, gave a tearful account of his last moments to mourners, including city and law enforcement leaders, at Cross Assembly Church on Yonkers Road.
Gabriel Torres’ casket arrived at the church after 11 a.m. in a funeral caisson. Raleigh firefighters and police unfurled a large U.S. flag over the road in honor of Torres.
Jasmin Torres described the harrowing scene when she came upon her husband after he had been shot as he was leaving home for work.
"Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, is by far the hardest day of my life," she said between sobs. "Finding you wounded with your life slipping away is a pain too hard to deal with.”
"I tried to save you," she said. "I wish I could have saved you. I gave my all to try and save you."
Gabriel Torres, 29, served in the Marines before joining the Raleigh Police Department and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, according to an obituary. In addition to his widow, he leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter, Layla.
Jasmin Torres recalled the times she and her husband had spent apart from each other over the years, including during his deployments and then working nights as a police officer.
“I am so, so, so, proud of you,” she said. “You were so dedicated to your work. I had to beg you to use your time off. Your night shifts were hard — it created distance — but we got through it.”
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said Torres often checked in on the fellow officers he had trained with at the police academy.
“Always making sure that they and their families were OK,” the chief said. “I’m told he always had an extra something on hand, whether it was a pair of socks, a T-shirt, an extra flashlight or an extra few dollars to share if someone was in need.”
Jasmin Torres issued a statement through the police Satuday expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support and asking for privacy as the family mourns.
Last week's shooting also claimed the lives of James Thompson, 16; Nicole Connors, 52; Susan Karnatz, 49; and Mary Marshall, 35.
Casey Clark, 33, a Raleigh police officer, and Marcille Gardner, 60, were wounded in the shooting. Gardner remains in hospital.
Police say the suspected assailant was a 15-year-old, who has been identified by his family as Austin Thompson, the younger brother of one of the victims.
Not long after U.S. Marines folded up the American flag that was draped over Gabriel Torres' coffin, friends and family of Karnatz filled the sanctuary of North Raleigh Presbyterian Church, The News & Observer reported.
Karnatz was killed while running on the Neuse River Greenway Trail that snakes behind the Hedingham neighborhood. The avid runner had completed the Boston Marathon four times. She had paused her early career as a school psychologist to home-school her three boys, The News & Observer reported.
“And now I wonder what her life might teach us, even through her death,” Pastor Lisa Hebacker said during the service. “I am sure — sure — that the circumstances surrounding Sue’s death teach us that the world still has an awful lot to learn about love.”
Before the funeral, a sea of runners took over the American Tobacco Trail for a run in her memory.
The North Carolina Roadrunners Club's event brought out 600 runners, according to organizer, Brad Broyals who ran with Karnatz for 12 years.
“Sad to know they can’t be here,” he said. “We won’t get to work, to volunteer or to run with Sue again.”
A funeral for Thompson, a junior at Knightdale High School, was conducted Thursday at Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh.
A memorial is expected in coming days for Marshall, a Navy veteran who was walking her dog when she was killed. She had planned to get married later this month.
A funeral for Connors, shot while talking to a neighbor on her porch, is scheduled for Thursday in Dayton, Ohio, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The teen suspected in the shootings remains in hospital.
The city has set up a web page with resources and information about how to offer support for the shooting victims and survivors.