10 years after Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore was killed in the line of duty, his memory lives on

Former Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer woke up in the early morning hours of May 5, 2015, to his phone incessantly ringing on his nightstand.

It was Lee White, the city’s police chief.

“When you’re getting a call at 2:30 in the morning from the police chief,” Widmyer said, “it’s never good news.”

White told the mayor something that would change the community of Coeur d’Alene forever – their loved and respected police officer, Sgt. Greg Moore, was shot by a convicted felon during a stop. Moore was the first Coeur d’Alene police officer to be killed in the line of duty.

At the time of his death, he was married to Lindy, a local schoolteacher, and had two young children: Gemma, 1, and Dylon, 12.

Ten years later, Moore’s family, the police department and the community came together once again to honor their fallen hero in a procession from the cemetery to McEuen Park, where Moore’s memorial waterfall is located.

“He did not die in vain,” White told the crowd, as he stood in front of the waterfall. “He was taken from us, doing what he did best. Serving and protecting – not only our community, but also the ideals, the values and the freedoms that are so uniquely American.”

That night, Moore was patrolling in northwest Coeur d’Alene when he saw a man walking along the road in a residential neighborhood. Moore was looking for someone he suspected to be breaking into residents’ garages, so he stopped his car to talk to him.

The seasoned officer of 16 years called police dispatch and asked them to run a check on the man: It was 26-year-old Jonathan Daniel Renfro, who was on parole after serving more than five years for grand theft, assault and battery on a prison guard, according to previous reporting from The Spokesman-Review. He also was convicted in Nevada for assaulting a police officer, court records show.

Moore asked Renfro to step over near his patrol car. That’s when Renfro reached into his right pocket, pulled out a handgun and shot Moore in the head.

Moore had gone silent after the request for someone to run Renfro’s information through a criminal database. A police dispatcher began attempting to communicate with Moore using his call number: “K27, Central, your status?” The dispatcher asked.

There was no response.

First responders found Moore bleeding on the ground in the dark street of the Sunshine Meadows neighborhood. His police car was gone, and his belongings were missing. When Renfro was arrested later after stealing Moore’s car and gun, the sergeant was lying in the hospital in critical condition.

“We didn’t know the extent of the injuries right away,” said Councilwoman Christie Wood, who was also a sergeant with the department at the time. The swarm of officers who gathered at the hospital that night were all hoping for good news because Moore was still alive, she said.

Moore died of his injury at 5:50 p.m. with his family by his side, previous reporting states.

“It was just crushing. I worked with Greg for several years. I knew him well – he was very popular and everyone loved him. And he was just a jokester … We had opposite views, so we would always debate each other. He was so good at that,” Wood said. “It’s just so hard to believe Greg is not with us.”

Wood remembers White, who was not even a year on the job as the city’s police chief at the time, practically holding the grief-stricken department together by a string.

“He was a rock,” she said. “… We were falling apart.”

Renfro was convicted of murdering Moore and sentenced to death in 2017. He is still sitting on Idaho’s death row.

Still, after a decade, losing Moore feels just as recent. Widmyer described it as “raw.”

“Raw for the family,” he said. “When you lose someone like that … The sting never goes away. They live with that. Every day.”

White told the crowd he has a very clear memory of that day, and the days following. Even though his father was a police officer, the impact of losing a fellow officer never really hit him until he put on a badge.

“I still remember the faces and the smiles of the brothers who died,” White said. “In some places … it seems that only the officer’s family and fellow officers remember their quality. But our community is different. We understand that the police and the community are in this together.”

As White spoke, the emotion from some of the Coeur d’Alene Police officers that lined the park did not discriminate. Both young and seasoned officers had single tears streaming down their faces. Moore’s widow watched earnestly from the front row as her left hand rested on her daughter’s fingertips. The sound of bagpipes rang through the air to the tune of “Amazing Grace.”

“Greg Moore was killed protecting the life and property and the way of life of the citizens of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,” White said. “He will never be forgotten.”