Thousands of law enforcement officers have been paying respects to Rochester Police Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz who was shot to death last month while on an investigation.
It was a steady stream of mourners at the calling hours in Perinton on Sunday including members of various motorcycle clubs, some of whom stood silently next to their cycles holding American flags, on Route 31 in front of the Keenan funeral home.
Mazurkiewicz was killed July 21, shot while in his unmarked police car. His partner, Sino Seng was injured but is recovering, and a 15-year-old girl was injured as well. A 21-year-old Massachusetts man faces murder and other charges.
RPD Lieutenant Greg Bello said that members of law enforcement from all over the U.S. and Canada are in town to pay their respects.
“It’s who Tony really was, just the great guy and the great cop that he was,” said Bello. “I mean, 29 years, almost over 30 years in law enforcement, dedicating his entire life and now unfortunately the end of his life to our community and to keeping our community safe. So to have this outpouring of support is humbling to say the least.”
On Sunday evening, the Town of Perinton invited community members to ‘Light Perinton Blue’ along a procession route from that town to downtown Rochester.
That procession left the Keenan Funeral home Sunday night, to bring the body of Officer Mazurkiewicz to the Public Safety Building in Rochester.
Town residents were invited to use their phones to play a YouTube video from Perinton which features a blue in-memoriam image.
The funeral is scheduled for noon on Monday at the Blue Cross Arena. It will be attended by thousands of law enforcement and other first responders from around the region and the state, as well as family members, and some political leaders including Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The public is not being invited to the service in person, but they may view the service via livestream.
WXXI-WORLD TV (Spectrum Cable channel 1275, and over-the-air digital channel 21.2) as well as City 12 (Spectrum Cable channel 1303 in the City of Rochester) will have the live video; you can also watch live streaming video at wxxinews.org.
WXXI Radio will broadcast audio of the service on AM 1370 and FM 107.5, and the audio and video are both being streamed at wxxinews.org
There are several street closures on Monday morning to accommodate the funeral service.
The following streets will be closed to traffic starting at 8:00 a.m. on Monday:
- Broad Street from South Avenue to S. Fitzhugh Street
- Court Street from South Avenue to Exchange Boulevard
- Exchange Boulevard from Main Street to S. Fitzhugh Street
- South Avenue from Main Street to Broad Street
