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SALT LAKE CITY — The body of a fallen Las Vegas police officer passed through Utah, and members of the Utah Highway Patrol were there for every moment.
Officer Alyn Beck was one of two officers shot and killed in a Las Vegas restaurant on June 8.
Beck will be buried in his home state of Wyoming, and Utah Highway Patrol officers escorted his body to the Wyoming border.
“We see this as an opportunity to honor a brother who was killed in the line of duty,” Danny Fuhr, Utah Highway Patrol superintendent, said. “There’s no way he was going to travel through Utah without a police escort.”
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, so many volunteered to be a part of the motorcade, they had to turn officers away. Officers saluted as the body of Beck was carried onto a hearse — an American flag draped over his casket.
“Law enforcement is definitely family no matter what uniform you wear, where you’re from,” Fuhr said. Officers from Utah, Idaho and Nevada escorted the hearse and Beck’s family from the Salt Lake Airport onto I-80 and to Wyoming.
The Utah Highway Patrol says officers from other agencies joined in the motorcade along the way. Once in Wyoming, troopers took over the escort. Beck will be laid to rest in Afton, Wyoming, on Monday morning.
Fuhr considers it a huge, albeit bittersweet, honor on Father’s Day.
“A lot of us are fathers in this procession, and to be able to deliver the officer back to his son, two daughters and his wife is overwhelming for us,” Fuhr said.
Beck’s family says the support from fellow officers and the community has been overwhelming.
“We’ve seen the worst of people, yet we’ve seen the best of people,” Beck’s sister, Elizabeth Krmpotich, said.
At a memorial in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Beck was given full police honors. More than 2,000 people showed up to remember the man relatives described as a first-rate police officer and a loving husband and father.
“He’s the most deserving person of the honors that have been paid to him,” Krmpotich said.
She and her family thanked the community, saying something beautiful can come from tragedy.
“We just realize that life is precious,” Krmpotich said. “We’re never going to miss another opportunity to share with each other how we feel.
