No Greater Love

John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Today marks the 10^th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the Untied States. I think about the people who entered burning towers to save others, the passengers who confronted hijackers with the battle cry of “Let’s roll,” and the survivors that lost husbands, wives, children and friends. I first learned about the attacks walking up the outside staircase to my office at the Santa Barbara Police Department after the first tower fell. I would later listen to 911 tapes of people trapped in the twin towers calling for help from public safety dispatchers. The dispatchers worked to keep them calm, knowing that there was no hope and the people who asked for a rescue would not survive.

Twenty years ago there was a similar, significant event in Santa Barbara. In this case, it was only two police officers, one lieutenant and a man with a gun. One life would end and another life one would begin. I found myself in the middle of both. It would be the first and only time in my career that the “No greater love” passage would ever be more real.

On January 11, 1991 at 2:18AM, my daughter, Stephanie, was born at Cottage Hospital. My wife, Marjorie, went into labor at 11:00PM and 3 hours and 18 minutes later gave birth to our first daughter. It was amazing. I held Stephanie and told her that I was going to take her to Disneyland. At 3:30AM, I kissed my wife goodbye and left to go home to get some sleep. I walked toward the exit and had a choice between a direct route to the parking lot or go through the Emergency Room and tell the staff that I was a Daddy. I chose to go to the Emergency Room.

I walked in the back door of the ER and standing in front of me was Officer Will. He wearing a suit. Now this made no sense. It was 3:30AM, Will wore a uniform and worked day watch in community outreach.

Will looked at me and said, “Tom got shot.”

I was confused. I did not understand his statement. I looked to my right and there lying on a trauma room gurney was my friend, Tom. He was lying on his side and two or three doctors were looking at his shoulder. Tom still had his uniform pants and shoes on.

I looked back at Will and said, “Where is the other guy?”

“He is in the next room.”

I would see that the lights were off and the shade was slightly pulled closed. He was dead.

I walked into the room and could see that he was shot at least two times. I walked out not really knowing what to do next. In the third room, two paramedics were looking through a bag and pulled out Tom’s uniform shirt. They were looking for bullet holes. They had no business doing that.

“Put that back! It’s evidence!” I ordered, standing there in shorts and a t-shirt.

The paramedics complied and I took the bag. Now what do I do? I am holding a bag of evidence from an officer involved shooting, my wife just gave birth to our first child, I have been up for 22 hours and I am standing in the middle on a hospital Emergency Room at 3:45AM. It was at that moment the Night Lieutenant walked into the ER.

“HI Lieutenant,” I said, “My wife just had a baby girl and these are Tom’s clothes.”

The Lieutenant said, “Hold on to them until you are relieved.” He walked off.

Now I am still holding a bag of evidence, I am still a new Dad, I am in shorts and a t-shirt and I am tired. I am also now on overtime.

After another 20 minutes or so, the Police Chief walked into the hospital. The Lieutenant met him and decided to take him outside to tell him what happened. The Lieutenant looked at me and said to go with him. This was weird. I was a two year rookie cop and the Lt. was going to include me in a brief with the Police Chief.

We walked outside to where the ambulances parked and the Lt. told the story. The suspect was running around the city shooting at people in a local liquor store. He was tracked to his apartment and the Lt. and two officers went to the place to try and arrest him. Officer Tom and his partner lined up on one side of the door, the Lieutenant on the other. The suspect came out shooting. Tom turned to run and got shot in the shoulder.

The Lieutenant said this, “I was not wearing my (bullet proof) vest and so I stepped away from the wall into the line of fire of the suspect. I figured I was going to get shot but I did not want to risk shooting the other officers in a cross fire.”

I was floored. He was willing to take a bullet to save his officers from further harm. It was the Lieutenant that shot and killed the suspect. The suspect never got off another shot.

Tom would fully recover. The Lieutenant would be honored a hero. After that night, he could do no wrong in my eyes. Two days later, Margie and I would take our baby daughter home.

These moments play out almost every day in the United States. Men and women in military and public safety service will go so far as to risk their lives for the people that would try to take them. Please pray for the people today. That God will dwell with them and keep them safe each day of their professional lives.

Romans 13:8-10 – “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."