Before the doors of Blake-Lamb Funeral Home were even open, dozens of people – many in uniform, some not – were already lining up to enter to pay their respects to Police Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso, a police officer who was shot and killed last week.

People waiting to get in huddled in a tent next to the Oak Lawn funeral home. Dozens of officers, including two on horseback, stood in front. And a fire truck parked across from the funeral home extended its ladder across 103rd Street with an American flag hanging from the end.

They were all there for the same reason – to celebrate the life of an officer who was shot to death on the 32nd.

“He had a lot ahead of him,” said Ald. Silvana Tabares, whose 23rd Ward includes the section of Marquette Park where Vásquez Lasso lived with his wife and daughter.

“It’s a sad day for the city of Chicago. Their pain is our pain,” Tabares said, referring to the officer’s family.

Tabares was among several officials who attended the aftermath. Others included Governor JB Pritzker; Mayor Lori Lightfoot with his wife, Amy Eshleman; Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza (whose brother was a police officer); Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi; and several other councillors.

David Dewar wore buttons for several of the officers lost in the line of duty in recent years, including Officer Ella French, who was shot to death in 2021, and Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo, who chased a man with a gun. when they were hit by a train and killed in 2018.

“This shows that we never forget the people who serve and protect,” Dewar, 58, said.

Dewar, who lives in the 19th Ward, said several of his neighbors were police officers and knew “the good, the bad and the ugly” of the department, but he said it was important to celebrate those who upheld the ideals of public service.

“Andres is the perfect example” of what people hope for in an officer, John Catanzara Jr. said. president of the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, “a young officer, an immigrant and someone who wanted to be someone in the department.”

“He was loved in the Eighth District,” Catanzara said, referring to the area where Vásquez Lasso was assigned.

Vásquez Lasso had been on the force for almost five years. He responded to a domestic violence call March 1 in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, about 2 1/2 miles from the home he and his wife had moved into about a year ago.

That call led to the deadly confrontation. Steven Montano, 18, was fleeing on foot from a house toward the playground next to Sawyer Elementary School when authorities say he suddenly turned and pointed a gun at Vásquez Lasso.

The two exchanged gunfire, with Montano hitting the officer in the head, arm and leg, authorities said. The officer fired twice, striking Montano in the face. Vásquez Lasso was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died.

Montano was ordered held without bail. His next court date was set for March 22, for a status hearing.

A group of mourners said they could only imagine what Vásquez Lasso’s wife, Milena, was going through, as they went through the same emotions when they lost family members who were police officers.

“When you show yourself this, the emotions come right back,” said Crystal Jimenez, whose husband, Samuel Jimenez, died in 2018 when he rushed into Mercy Hospital to confront a gunman and stop a mass shooting.

Cullen Gordon, son of Officer Michael Gordon, who was killed in 2004, came from Texas to pay his respects.

Gordon, an officer with the Dallas Police Department, spoke through tears about the support his family received when his father died, how important it was and how important that kind of support is to the families of officers killed on the job.

“They gave their lives for the people of Chicago,” he said. “Never forget them.”

After dark, the number of visitors increased to a couple of hundred.

Vásquez Lasso’s funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Rita of Cascia Church, 7740 S. Western Ave.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for Americaa non-profit journalism program aimed at strengthening the newspaper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.