Jan 9, 2008 11:46 pm US/Eastern
Family & Friends Mourn Fallen Miami Officer
30-Year Old James Walker Had Been With The Force Since 2000
A Public Memorial Service Is Being Held Friday At Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 3-11 p.m.- 5946 NW 12th Avenue, Miami
NORTH MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―
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The officer's first cousin, Gwen Samuels spoke on behalf of the family Tuesday morning. "The only thing that we'd like to say as a family at this moment is that we are grieving."
CBS
He was soft spoken and had several commendations in his personnel file; that's the way colleagues described Miami Police Officer James Walker, who was killed in an early morning shootout early Tuesday morning.
Friends, family and Law enforcement officers of Officer Walker gathered at his house after learning about his death. They showed their respects for the parents on Tuesday. 30-year-old Walker, who has been with the force since 2000, was found shot to death in his unmarked police car at 1801 Northeast 164th Street.
"I just came from a roll call at about 3 o'clock this afternoon, and I don't think there was a single dry eye in that roll call room," said Detective Delrish Moss, who worked with Walker.
"He was a compassionate man who was hard working, soft-spoken, but you could feel his presence when he was there."
The officer's first cousin, Gwen Samuels spoke on behalf of the family Tuesday morning.
"The only thing that we'd like to say as a family at this moment is that we are grieving," Samuels told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "We know that the community is grieving, everyone is grieving, everyone is grieving with us, we'd just like to have privacy right now to just be able to accept what has happened. We are moving forward."
Samuels added that Walker was dedicated to law enforcement.
''He's a good person, a caring person,'' said John Randle, the officer's brother-in-law. ``I don't know a single bad thing to say about him.'' "I want justice done," he added.
In his personnel record, Walker had several commendations, for working in some of the city's toughest neighborhoods, and for running down several burglars and purse snatchers.
Outside the home, some embraced as other led by Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez of the Miami Police Department stopped by the see Walker's parents.
"All indications are that this officer was a very productive officer on the field, he was assigned to domestic violence," said Fernandez. "He was just a hardworking officer."
Fernandez said he was woken up at 3:00 in the morning on Tuesday with the very difficult message that one of his officer's had been killed.
Amid their sadness, Samuels and Walker's parents are being offered from Miami Police grief counselors for as long as they need that support.
Police said Miami Police Chief John Timoney is cutting short his vacation and will return to Miami because of the incident. Timoney is expected to visit the family Tuesday afternoon.
Walker's death is the fourth fatal shooting of a South Florida law enforcement officer in the past six months.
Miami-Dade police officer Jose Somohano was fatally shot in shootout with a suspect in September.
Broward sheriff's deputy Chris Reyka was fatally shot in August while looking for stolen vehicles behind a drug store, and BSO deputy Paul Rein was shot with his own weapon while transporting an inmate to court in November.
The Miami chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police said it would offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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