SCRANTON -- July has been a month filled with loss for law enforcement officers and their families.
On Courthouse Square in Scranton, people gathered Sunday, paying tribute to the officers killed on the job this month across the country, including the corrections officer who died in our area last week.
10 names and faces.
10 red roses.
10 lives ended.
Nick Colacicco of Scranton is a Vietnam veteran. He says the ambushes on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge feel like war.
“It's something you leave behind when you are in the service. You don't think you are going to see or hear about it again. It happens,” Colacicco said.
While nine of the lives were lost hundreds of miles away, one tragedy was closer to home.
Luzerne County Corrections Officer Kristopher Moules died on Monday after he and an inmate fell down an elevator shaft at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.
“He had a passion for life. He was just a great man,” said Corporal Nick Wilk, Luzerne County corrections officer.
Two of Moules' colleagues came to honor their brother's memory.
“Our hearts are very heavy at the loss of Kris. As law enforcement, we have to come together as a family, and I appreciate the support of all our brothers and sisters across the country,” said Lt. John Domagauer, Luzerne County corrections officer.
“It's tough. It's tough. Through the whole country, it is getting tough for law enforcement across the country. We gotta stand together,” Wilk added.
Moules' death has been difficult for Don Williams. His son Eric, a corrections officer at the federal prison near Waymart, was killed on the job in 2013.
“It brought the whole thing home again, you know. It was a reminder of what happened to our son, and to watch another family go through this that close to home,” Williams said.
But amidst all the loss, there is hope.
“This is what I want to do. This is the life I have chosen to take. I am very proud of doing this myself, and I wouldn't do anything other,” Michael Morrison, a police cadet at Lackawanna College.
His class of Lackawanna College police cadets is determined to carry on.
A viewing for Moules will take place Monday. His funeral is scheduled for Tuesday. Both will take place at the Wyoming Valley West High School auditorium in Plymouth.
