NEW YORK— Hundreds of New York City police officers lined Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue in a farewell salute Monday to a former NYPD colleague who was gunned down in Texas.
David Hofer, an officer in the Dallas suburb of Euless, was celebrated at a memorial Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Mourners including NYPD officers in dress uniform and officers from several North Texas cities prayed before his cremated remains.
A Euless police officer had carried the cherry wood box with Hofer’s ashes bearing his name to the altar, near some daisies and a sign that read, “Blue Lives Matter.”
Hofer’s fiancée, Marta Danylyk, a native of Ukraine, wept quietly, sitting close to his mother, Sonja, and his father, Helmut.
“He went to Texas to make a good life, but once you put a shield on your chest, you’re always in danger,” Pat Lynch, head of New York’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said after the service.
