Sgt. Renninger Laid to Rest
Officer one of four ambushed in Washington State coffee shop
By VINCE LATTANZIO
Updated 5:57 PM EDT, Fri, Dec 11, 2009
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Family, friends and strangers turned out Friday to mourn the loss and say goodbye to Sgt. Mark Renninger.
Renninger, a Bethlehem, Pa.-native, was one of four Lakewood, Wash. police officers murdered in an ambush-style attack at a coffee shop late last month.
The fallen officer's body returned to our area on Wednesday. A procession of blue led his casket up to the Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia International Airport.
The officer's family filed into a Bethlehem funeral home Friday morning for a private service.
Public funeral services were then held at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena where the officer was remembered as a dedicated volunteer and public servant. He was laid to rest at Holy Saviour Cemetery, also in Bethlehem.
Renninger and his colleagues were killed by ex-convict Maurice Clemmons, who was later shot to death by a Seattle police officer, authorities said.
Following the shootings, the officer's family called Clemmons' act "cowardly."
"I'm just so angry at how it happened," Renninger's brother Mike said. He had hoped to face his brother's murder and ask "just, why" the man shot him in cold blood. Unfortunately, that closure may never come.
Renninger, a former Army Ranger and nationally known SWAT trainer, leaves behind his wife Kim, three children -- Ashley, Allyson and Nicholas -- and six siblings.
A trust fund has been set up in his honor. For more information, visit MemoryofMark.com.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Philadelphia
First Published: Dec 11, 2009 10:58 AM EDT
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