The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
Jarrod Brent Shivers was laid to rest Tuesday as hundreds of mourners honored the slain police detective who loved his job.
"He lives on in all who believe good overcomes evil," John Marshall, Virginia's secretary of public safety, told a standing-room only audience at Great Bridge Baptist Church.
Shivers, 34, a father of three, was shot Thursday night while executing a narcotics search warrant in the 900 block of Redstart Ave., in the Portlock section of Chesapeake. The eight-year police veteran was trying to enter a home when at least one shot was fired from inside the residence, striking him, police said.
A resident of the home, Ryan David Frederick, 28, was arrested in connection with the shooting. He was charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Frederick is scheduled to be arraigned in Chesapeake General District Court on Jan. 30.
On Tuesday afternoon, a black hearse, led by 49 police motorcycles, carried Shivers under overcast skies to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk. Citizens and schoolchildren lined the route of the procession, which stretched for miles along Battlefield Boulevard.
One business posted a sign along the street that read: "God bless Officer Shivers & Family." Two Chesapeake Fire Department ladder trucks hoisted an American flag high above South Battlefield Boulevard. At the funeral, Chesapeake Police Chief Richard Justice stood in front of Shivers' casket, which was draped with an American flag, and called the detective a "true hero," and one of the city's "very finest."
"We say to Detective Jarrod Shivers: Farewell, God bless and job well done," Justice said.
Sgt. Scott Chambers described Shivers as an unassuming man, a cornerstone in every unit he served. He recalled going out for sushi with Shivers and another officer before the fatal shooting. During the meal, Chambers recalled, Shivers talked to his wife, Nicole, on the telephone and told her "I love you" at least twice.
The detective was killed that night, leaving behind three children, Brittnie, Ashleigh and Landon.
"It was difficult for Jarrod to talk about his children without smiling," Officer Ernest Jeffries told the crowd, which included public safety officers from around the state, North Carolina and Maryland. They more than packed a church with capacity of 1,500.
Shivers had been working in the Special Investigation Section since April 2005 and SWAT since September 2005. He had joined the department in January 2000, after serving in the Navy from 1992 to 2000. He earned a bachelor's degree from Saint Leo University in 2006.
The Rev. Jim Wall said there was purpose and meaning in Shivers' life. "We're here to say we stand with you," Wall told the family. "We know this community stands with you."
Shivers is the second Chesapeake police officer to be killed in the line of duty in recent years. Michael Saffran, 45, was shot and killed in October 2005 while responding to a bank robbery.
Tuesday's service celebrated Shivers' life. His father, Jim, shared childhood memories of his son, saying Shivers' heroes were John Rambo, the fictional movie character that helped rescue American soldiers, and MacGyver, a television character known for using common items to get out of life-threatening situations.
Marshall said it took a special person to dedicate his life to public service.
"To Detective Shivers, we salute you," Marshall said. "We commend you for a job well done."
John Hopkins, (757) 222-5221, john.hopkins@pilotonline.com
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previous comment from angelak
Angelak, Have you been keeping up with all of this... They recovered marijuana from the house... and how do you know he was sleeping... Were you there... As posted previously if you don't know the facts and can't keep up with what was already told by the media, not that they're right half the time, you probably shouldn't waste your time commenting... Try to keep up please!
Anybody
can buy a badge and a helmet with police printed on it. Anybody can stand at your door and shout "police". It doesn't mean they are the police. And at 8:30 in the middle of January, it might as well be the middle of the night. The guy wasn't a convicted killer or child molester. He doesn't even have a felony. Just your every day average joe that may smoke a little in the privacy of his own home. No different than you 40,50, 60 or older people that come home from work and pop the top on a can of beer or pour yourselves a bourbon. But because the people with the guns have you told you all your pathetic lives that marijuana is bad, well then it must be bad. We need to bust peoples doors down and stop this outrageous bunch of lawbreakers. Sheep! I guess as long as you wear a badge and a gun, you live at the foot of the cross and can do no wrong.
Weed not a big deal?
In regards to weed not being such a big deal, well, I have seem first hand what it can do to people that smoke it. It affect everyone different - some people just mellow out and go to sleep, others get all hype and some others need it to give them the extra boost of confidence. I can tell you that weed is just as addictive then Heroin or crack; drug dealers make just as much money of it and most smalltime dealers start out in weed and then step up to the bigger drugs. So, would you like for this man to be selling weed to your kids? Get them addicted to it to just ending up letting them use bigger and badder drugs?
Hopefully we will all find out the whole truth. In the meantime you have two mothers mourning the loss of their son - one lost forever and the other locked up. To me that is the part that we all need to remember, two lives lost.
Whoa!
Are we all on the same page here? Are we all reading and watching the same news? When I watched the suspect on TV last night, it turned my stomach. Now to read the comments made to my question, makes me hope I don't live in the same area those people live in. As one of the other commentors stated, the police was wearing body armour clearly stating who they were; they anounced themselves and did what we ask from them...simply to do their job and to protect us. The guy was in his house at 830pm, not the middle of the night, downstairs, with the bedrooms being upstairs, stating he thought someone was breaking into his house, like someone did the previous week across the street, not his house but across the street. So, maybe he was high and did not hear anything and just reacted the wrong way. But if he thought someone was breaking in, why didn't he call 911 instead of grabbing his gun? Did he have is gun laying on his chest or by his side, so that he was able to shoot as soon as the police officers entered the building? Yes, according to all of the reports, he shot as soon as the door flew open. There are a lot of unanswered questions and only time will reveal the truth. Hopefully eve
Condolences
First I would like to extend my condolences to the Family and Friends. My thoughts and prayers go out to you all. I work near the church where this service was being held. Standing outside watching the procession go down the street myself and co-workers couldn't help but to shed some tears. It's a very sad thing that has happened.
Second to everyone who is posting negative comments about this officer please be mindful his family and friends will be reading this and they have just lost a loved one. Everyone has the right to express their opinions just be mindful of how you go about doing so.
Thirdly unless you were there that night you have no idea what went on. The officer is not here to give his testimony of what happened. I'm sure the facts will come out however I find it very unlikely we will know the full story until the trial of this young man.
Keep in mind just because there is no record on this guy doesn't mean he wasn't doing anything wrong... he may just have never been caught.
Lastly I would like to thank those who do these thankless jobs every day to protect the people.
ErikaH Re:
This man is still innocent until proven guilty. YOU would do well to remember that. Let's say that someone ''informed'' the police about you having a marijuana farm in your garage. Would that be true? You should save your radical judgements for the legal system. Rational thinking citizens would not be asking for Capitol Punishment based on very little evidence thus far. You don't know more than anyone else. At this point he has NOT been charged with narcotics possession, nor have they reported finding any....not that it matters. Having pot does not justify the police raid the way they handled it. They lost one of their own so obviously that is a bad plan. It isn't necessarily the shooters fault. There is a better way. We as citizens have the right to defend our homes. Maybe it was poor planning. Maybe it was too much adrenaline, not enough procedure...or maybe the procedures are faulty. Maybe the guy is a raving lunatic that shot a cop when they broke his door down. It still doesn't mean he is wrong. He was sleeping. He was startled, and most likely didn't hear the cops (if he is innocent.) The point is, take all of this in stride, absorb the facts as they come.
I wish people would quit trying to second guess
what happened. It is an ongoing investigation. According to the latest info in the paper, the police did announce and then knock in the door, wearing body armor and helmets with POLICE in big letters. They have not filed what they have found from the search yet, so you don't know if they found drugs or not. And I find it hard to believe that someone in a bedroom, could grab a gun, get out of the bedroom and into the area of the front door to shoot someone BEFORE the door was busted in. And watching this man on TV, his crying is phony, not one tear in all of his act. And lets not forget, unless the law has been changed, if someone breaks into your house, you have to retreat to an area furthest from the point of entry. Then if the person comes in there, and pay attention, THREATENS YOU, you can shoot him. You do not blindly just start shooting at any noise. And as far as "pot" not being worth it...if he was growing, how much could he produce in a garage annually? So, lets not second guess, unless you're going to second guess the suspect as well.
BB in VA Beach...
please read the other article. The police were in armor, labeled "POLICE" with badges showing. They were also wearing helmets, hardly plain clothes. They announced themselves prior to entering, and it happened at 8:30 PM, not in the middle of night.
For those "Monday Morning Quarterbacks", Chesapeake is accepting applications for new police recruits. Why don't you all apply, then you can see first hand what a cop's job is like. If you don't want to give your 9-5 Monday through Friday, higher paying job, try a ride-a-long or a citizen's police academy.
From a cop's wife point of
From a cop's wife point of view with 3 children myself, a husband and father are lost because he was simply doing his job, making a living doing what he loved to make a difference in the world and support his family. For those of you who have no idea what it is like to be in a situation like this, it is awfully bold to make such strong statements. Let's just all calm down and pray for Nicole and his 3 children who are suffering and have a long road ahead of them.
In response to erikah54057
You really think first degree murder is not enough? Have you paid attention to the information released on this case at all? The defendant thought his home was being broken into a couple days prior to the actual police break-in. The police approached his home in plain clothes, did not announce themselves, and busted down the door, in the middle of the night, without probable cause. When they busted in his door, he did what any law abiding citizen with a firearm would do, he shot. They did not find any drugs, and even if they did, marijuana is no excuse for busting in the door of someone with no previous record. The police department made an extremely foolish decision on this and it cost an officer his life.