‘MARTYR FOR DEMOCRACY’
President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid tribute Tuesday to slain Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” Evans as he lay in the Capitol Rotunda.
Evans, 41, an 18-year veteran of the force, was killed earlier this month when a 25-year-old man mowed him and another Capitol cop down while driving at a barricade outside the US Capitol.
The killer, Noah Green, was shot dead at the scene, but not before getting out of the vehicle and lunging toward the two officers with a knife. One of the officers was stabbed.
The service began after Evans’ casket was carried up the Capitol steps and into the Rotunda.
Schumer noted Evans’ humor and kindness when visitors would ask him for directions.
“Members of our great Capitol Police force [and] Capitol Police officers are approached by hundreds of lost tourists a day. If you were one of the lucky ones, you’d bump into Officer Billy Evans,” Schumer said.
“‘Excuse me,’ they’d say, ‘Can I ask a question?’ ” Schumer said.
“Billy would flash his wide smile, eyes full of mirth, and say, ‘But you already did,’ ” he continued.
Pelosi said Evans “represented the best of public service,” calling him a “martyr for our democracy.”
“Officer Evans joins a pantheon of heroes who have given their lives to defend this Capitol, including on Jan. 6,” Pelosi said, referencing the Capitol riot where another Capitol cop, Brian Sicknick, died.
Speaking to Evans’ mother, Janice, Biden discussed being a parent who has buried a child.
“A time is gonna come, I promise you, when a memory, a fragrance, a scene, a circumstance, the way his son tilts his head the way he did at that age, it’s gonna bring back the memory,” Biden began, going on to explain that, at times, those experiences would bring her back to the moment when she lost her son.
What was important to remember, he explained, was that this feeling would evolve.
Biden was seated next to Evans’ widow, Shannon, and their two children, Logan, 9, and Abigail, 7.
The president appeared to pick up a toy Abigail dropped on his way to deliver his remarks, and handed Logan what looked like a presidential coin on his way back.
It has been a dangerous year for the Capitol Police, which has seen only six line-of-duty deaths in the force’s nearly 200-year history.