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Editorial
Society owes debt of gratitude to law enforcement officers
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Our nation is preparing to honor the military men and women who gave their lives to preserve our way of life.
Anyone who has read about a fatal shooting in Omaha Wednesday might think back to another recent observance, Peace Officers Memorial Day, observed with little fanfare May 15.
Officer Kerrie Orozco, 29, a gang unit member with the Omaha Police Department, was shot and killed as she and other officers were attempting to arrest a man wanted in an earlier shooting.
The suspect, Marcus Wheeler, 26, also died as a result of the shootout.
Orozco, a seven-year veteran of the police force, was a new mother, her premature baby set to be released from an Omaha hospital today.
She is survived by her husband, Hector Orozco, two stepchildren, her mother and two siblings as well as her newborn daughter.
She coached baseball at an Omaha Boys and Girls Club, was a Special Olympics volunteer and served as president of the Police Officers' Ball to benefit the Special Olympics. She also took in rescue dogs and was a Girl Scout mentor.
Kerrie Orozco was the kind of citizen all of us would be proud to know.
At the most basic, there's little difference between those who put their lives on the line on foreign battlefields and those who do the same on the streets of our towns and cities.
They all deserve our utmost respect and gratitude.