Hundreds gather to mourn slain federal officer
Angela Underwood Jacobs stood before the microphone on the stage in the Pinole Valley High School theater on Friday and looked out over the crowd of hundreds of people. The silver casket of her younger brother David Patrick Underwood was in the center of the stage, several feet away.
“There’s so many of you,” she said, with just a hint of a break in her voice as she addressed the mourners. “The love that’s filling this room for my brother …”
They crowded in from everywhere, mourners that included Underwood’s family, friends,
former workers, a U.S. Department head, members of Congress, police chiefs, Blacks, whites, Republicans and Democrats.
It was a service that manifested love and unity and denounced the kind of violence that killed the 53-yearold Underwood. The Federal Protective Services officer was gunned down late last month while on duty in downtown Oakland in what authorities have called targeted violence against law enforcement by affiliates of an extremist libertarian movement.
The aftermath has brought a worldwide reaction of unity and peace that Jacobs said was the underlying hope of Friday’s memorial service.
“We’ve heard from a pastor in Africa,” Jacobs told the mourners. “And one in Great Britain. The Vatican contacted our family. People from all over the world are praying for us and for love.”
The approximately 500 mourners included acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf, Reps. Barbara Lee and Mike Thompson and Pinole Police Chief Neil Gang. Most of the mourners wore masks and sat side by side in the high school theater.
Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton and Supervisors John Gioia and Federal Glover also were in attendance, along with dozens of uniformed officers. The U.S. Secret Service also made its presence felt, in part because of Wolf’s appearance.
Wolf presented an American flag to Underwood’s family, which in addition to his sister included his brother, Gregory, two nephews and a niece.
“He stood tall, strong, stoic like a tree reaching for the sky,” Jacobs said. “He believed the key to living was to treat people with dignity, humility and grace.”
Underwood died May 29 during protests in Oakland over George Floyd’s death involving police in Minneapolis. Underwood’s partner also was hit by gunfire. He survived the attack despite serious injuries.
Friday, speakers touched on the Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of their voices being heard. They spoke of the importance of having the ability “to dream the impossible,” as Jacobs said her brother did.
Close friend George Phillips called him “a patriarch” and “hero” within the Pinole community, one who dedicated his life to those around him.
“He put it on the line for all of us,” Phillips said. “His life mattered to us.”
In that spirit, the mourners also spoke out about the discord and violence that not only killed Underwood but others such as Floyd, whose death at the knee of a police officer touched off protests that continued Friday.
Underwood’s alleged killer, Steven Carrillo, targeted the officers simply because they were wearing police uniforms, according to the FBI. A week after the shooting, Carrillo allegedly ambushed Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies at his home in the unincorporated town of Ben Lomond, killing Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and critically injuring another deputy. A third officer was shot in the hand.
Carrillo — who faces state and federal death penalty charges in both Gutzwiller’s and Underwood’s killings — had an affinity for the so-called boogaloo movement, an extremist, loosely organized faction that sees itself as a catalyst for a second American civil war that they believe is on the horizon. Carrillo allegedly killed Underwood with an accomplice, Robert Alvin Justus Jr., after meeting him through a Facebook group. Justus is accused of driving Carrillo’s white van and conducting on-foot surveillance before the shooting.
Federal authorities say the two “came to Oakland to kill cops” and took advantage of the Floyd protests on the night of May 29, which drew a heavy police presence, to commit the shooting and leave Oakland undetected.
Underwood’s mourners said he gave his life to prevent such discord and that for his legacy they must continue the fight.
“The question can’t be whether we make it through this tough time (in America),”
Wolf said. “The question needs to be how can we overcome our differences and animosities. How will we move to a place of mutual respect and understanding.”
Underwood, a Pinole native, carried on that mission throughout his life, family and friends said. They said he decided to forgo a potential baseball career — more than one person spoke of his ability as a left-handed pitcher — because serving a larger cause was more important to him.
“So many people have reached out and told us how he’s helped them in their lives,” Jacobs told reporters before speaking at the funeral. “And he was such a humble guy. He wasn’t a person who would go around and talk about what he had done. He just did it. … That’s what I think the most about my brother. I miss him so much.”
Underwood became a contract officer for the FPS of the Department of Homeland Security and was assigned to protect the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland, where he was killed.
“Patrick was murdered by the blind violence of hatred, ignorance, fear and discrimination,” Jacobs said. “We struggle everyday to mend the hole that is in our hearts.”
As they struggle with that, they will again look to their departed friend to lead them.
“I know if I were talking to him right now, what he would say for all of us here today and across America is to stay strong,” Jacobs said. “Stay strong and focus on love, peace and unity.”