Farewell To Fellow Officer Thousands In Law Enforcement Pay Respects To Boise Policeman Killed In Shootout With Two Brothers

Thousands of uniformed law enforcement officers from throughout the West paid tribute Wednesday to Officer Mark Stall, the first Boise policeman ever killed in the line of duty.

“There are so many overgrown boys in this world, but Mark was a man among men,” Officer John Terry told up to 8,000 mourners gathered in the 12,000-seat Boise State University Pavilion for Stall’s funeral.

“Mark’s death was not an accident, not a mistake. It was a murder,” said Terry, who early Saturday carried the news to Cheryl Stall that her 29-year-old husband had gone down in a hail of gunfire following what police said was a routine traffic stop.

Two men in the car pulled over for failing to signal a turn - brothers who had once sought to be Pennsylvania state troopers - also were killed in the firefight with seven police officers.

Craig Brodrick, 29, was hit with at least 12 bullets. Doug Brodrick, 27, who fired the shot that fatally wounded Stall, had seven major gunshot wounds. Six of the seven policemen fired their weapons.

Stall, among officers summoned by the officers who pulled over the Brodricks, was struck less than one inch above his bulletproof vest but kept firing. He died a short time later from loss of blood.

Officer Ron Winegar, wounded by a single bullet in Saturday’s shootout, came from his hospital bed in a medical van and attended the two-hour funeral in a wheelchair. Republican Gov. Phil Batt came, too, as did a host of other local and state officials.

But at least half the mourners were city, county, state and federal law enforcement officers from jurisdictions throughout the West.Two of the eight pallbearers carrying Stall’s flag-draped coffin were from California, where Stall once worked as a deputy for Los Angeles County. Hundreds of Boise residents lined the seven-mile route from the Pavilion to Dry Creek Cemetery, nestled on a hillside overlooking the Boise Valley in suburban Ada County.

“As a community, you’re here today to pay tribute to an officer and friend, a loving husband, a wonderful father,” said the Rev. Arnold Rubey, Stall’s father-in-law, as Cheryl Stall and the couple’s two daughters, 3-year-old Julia and 6-year-old Janelle, looked on.

Wearing a blue ribbon on his lapel, as many in the city have done to show respect to police, Rubey called on the crowd to acknowledge law enforcement officers who face the same threat everywhere.

“It is now time to stand en masse, shoulder to shoulder, rank after rank in grateful tribute to the dedicated, brave men and women who are in the trenches for us,” he said, leading the crowd in applause.

Boise Mayor Brent Coles said the city council would name a future park for Stall, who he said would not have wanted controversy over seven fatal shootings by Boise police officers in 16 months to “divide the community.”

Indeed, as a seven-member honor guard fired its rifles into the air above the grave site Wednesday afternoon, it remained unclear who on Saturday had fired first.

After the burial, Boise Police Chief Larry Paulson said that one of the seven officers had indicated he may have fired before the Brodricks began shooting.

“He may have fired first, but we don’t know that. We won’t know until all the evidence is in,” the chief said, adding that some witnesses have said the brothers were the first to shoot.

Lt. Jim Tibbs said the final determination of who fired first would not be known until a joint city and state investigation is complete.

The Brodricks’ father, Martin Brodrick Jr. of Brush Valley, Pa., is convinced his sons would not have fired except in self-defense.

Craig Brodrick had moved from Pennsylvania to Boise in May; his brother followed in August. Both were employed in the plastics industry. Their bodies were being flown home to western Pennsylvania for funerals on Friday.