Ross Walker Funeral Home on Freeport Road was lit up blue as darkness settled in Monday, while the hours-long steady stream of mourners continued to file in to pay their respects to slain Brackenridge Chief Justin McIntire.
The line to enter the New Kensington funeral home was more than 100 deep when doors for the six-hour viewing opened about 2 p.m. Many of the visitors were law enforcement officers in uniform.
The start of the three days of services began one week after the Brackenridge chief — a native of the small borough who went on to oversee his hometown police department — was shot and killed during a manhunt.
Elaborate black and blue ribbons and bows adorned utility poles around the funeral home, and screen-printed signs of support dotted nearby yards. A small billboard displayed a fallen officer flag — black with a blue stripe, across the street.
Hundreds of officers from myriad departments filed into and out of the viewing throughout the afternoon. School buses shuttled mourners from Valley High School to the funeral home.
“It’s all about unity. We are one group, law enforcement across the area, across the country and across the world,” Shaler Chief Sean Frank told Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV. “We’re here to show support for him, his family, his community and his department.”
Chief McIntire was shot and killed Jan. 2 as he pursued a man wanted for probation violations and for fleeing police. Investigators have said Aaron Swan took off when a state trooper tried to pull him over Jan. 1 on Route 28.
He eluded police from several departments throughout the next day. Chief McIntire was on foot, following Swan between houses on Third Avenue, when investigators believe Swan ambushed him with a gun. The 46-year-old police chief was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers spotted Swan in a carjacked Subaru hours later in Pittsburgh, and another chase ensued. Swan crashed the Subaru and took off into a wooded area in Homewood. As police set up a perimeter, Swan darted out, firing at officers as he did. Two detectives returned fire, ultimately shooting and killing Swan as he ran toward Heart Court.
Chief McIntire’s line of duty death left the borough and surrounding towns reeling.
“A loss like this is always devastating, always heartbreaking, but especially so when it’s our chief in a place we really value as being boring and off the map,” Mayor Lindsay Fraser said in the aftermath. “It really felt like these sorts of things didn’t happen in Brackenridge.
“We’re just devastated.”
A second public viewing is set for Tuesday from 2 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home at 217 Freeport Road. Chief McIntire’s funeral will be at noon Wednesday at Mount Saint Peter Roman Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Mt. Airy Cemetery in Harrison.
First Published: January 9, 2023, 10:57 p.m.
Updated: January 10, 2023, 12:53 p.m.