ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A fundraiser has brought communities together from Ohio and New York as they continue to mourn the loss of Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson Ritter, who was killed in the line of duty on July 4. Community members are showing an outpouring of support and appreciation for the Webster, New York-native and his family during a difficult time. 

“It's a tragedy that never should have happened,” Ritter's mother Karen Ritter said. 

“It's really just to comfort the family in some way,” bagpiper Megan Southcott said. “And it's music; if we can do that through music, that's my small gift to the family.”

Endless stories about Ritter have been shared across communities from Cleveland, Ohio, to Rochester, New York. His death has brought people together to raise money in support of his family.

“I knew he was incredible,” Jamieson Ritter’s sister Angelica Ritter said. “But then you see the impact and hear the stories of how incredible he was to an amount that I didn't even realize.”

“When you hear the tragedies that happen, police officers today, it just breaks your heart whether you know, you don't know them,” Punisher’s Law Enforcement motorcycle club member Thomas Difante said. “We all go through the same things. We've all been in the same position. When these things happen to a fellow officer, it just breaks your heart.”

Communities are applauding both the heroic act of Jamieson Ritter and his family. 

“Events like this, we had people that I know and there's some complete strangers in there I've never seen before that are going to hopefully help spread our message,” Jamieson Ritter’s father Jon Ritter said.

“And we feel honored that people are here to keep Jamison's memory alive,” Karen Ritter said.

Family, friends, and active and retired law enforcement grieve and reflect, as badges have no barriers when it comes to tragedy.

“It's a brotherhood,” Difante said. “It's a camaraderie. And people just need to understand that part of life, for good and evil and good and bad. And they’re necessary.”

“It's been a void that's never going to be overcome," Karen Ritter said. "Because he was my son at 27, I shouldn't have to go to a mausoleum to have conversations with my son. Lives should be valued just like everybody else's lives.”

It's emphasizing the sacrifice Jamieson Ritter made for the greater good of the community.

“That is why they walk that thin blue line, to maintain the peace in our society,” Southcott said. “Bringing everyone together, gathering, sharing stories, sharing memories, talking about our fallen heroes, it just gives us a chance to be together physically so that we can mourn.”