As President Trump was speaking at Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on Capitol Hill, he invited the family of Newman, Calif., police Cpl. Ronil Singh to say a few words. Singh was killed in the line of duty by a man who was in the country illegally in December 2018.
“I am the brother of Cpl. Ronil Singh. I’d like to thank every single law enforcement officer over here. What you guys go through, I heard stories from my brother. This man over here, the Singh family supports him. Whatever he’s doing for the law enforcement, we support him,” his brother Reggie told the crowd.
“His team at the White House has reached out to us multiple times, multiple times. I don’t think that has ever happened before, ever. This man is amazing, and my family supports him,” he said.
The widow of Singh at first did not want to speak, but then changed her mind.
[Related: Trump: Cop killers should ‘immediately’ get the death penalty]
“I actually want to thank you personally for — you’re the only one that actually reached out and said — gave your condolence to the family, and it actually means a lot to all of our law enforcement families that are here for the sacrifice my husband and his brothers in blue and sisters in blue have given, so I want to thank you. And we all, every family sitting out here wants justice for what happened to their loved ones, and that’s what I want for my husband,” she said.
Singh had pulled the man over during a traffic stop the day after Christmas. During the stop, the man opened fire, killing Singh and wounding his K-9 partner. The suspect was caught by police two days later.
[Also read: Police motorcyclists injured in Trump motorcade accident in Louisiana]
In a tweet, Trump said the incident highlighted the need for stronger immigration laws.
There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018
