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Photos: Va. officer slain on 1st shift being laid to rest

Officer Ashley Guindon was one of three officers shot Saturday responding to a domestic violence call

March 01, 2016 11:48 AM
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A Police honor guard marches by the Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbrige, Va., Tuesday, March 1, 2016, before the funeral of Prince William County Police Officer Ashley Guindon.

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Associated Press

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — A woman killed on her first shift after being sworn in as a police officer was remembered Tuesday as a peacemaker and someone who accomplished much in her short life.

Ashley Guindon, 28, was killed Saturday when she responded to a report of a domestic argument at a home in Woodbridge. Two other Prince William County Police Department officers were wounded, and a woman at the home was also killed. The woman’s husband is in custody and charged with the shootings.

Three days later, family, friends and hundreds of law enforcement officers in dress uniforms gathered at Hylton Memorial Chapel to honor Guindon. Mounted officers lined the route to the church, and police dogs and their handlers stood by at the church’s entrance, The Washington Post reported. Bagpipes played and officers saluted a hearse carrying Guindon’s body as it pulled up to the church.

Retired FBI agent John Kerr showed up in leather and chains with his motorbike, one of several members of the Strength and Honor Motorcycle Club in attendance.

“We wanted them (Guindon’s family) to know they are not alone,” Kerr told the Post.

After a two-hour public viewing, the funeral began. WTOP-FM reported that the Rev. Gerard Creedon said he hoped the loss felt in Guindon’s “unconscionable dismissal from this life” might signal an end to violence.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Creedon said.

Guindon graduated from the Prince William Criminal Justice Academy in 2015, but left before completing the field training program for personal reasons, police said. She was readmitted last month.

“She accomplished more in 28 years than I could in 100,” Chief Stephan Hudson said during the service. Hudson said Guindon dedicated her life to others — up to the very end. “That’s exactly what she did,” Hudson said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press

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