With family, friends and fellow officers looking on, the names of two police officers who were shot and killed outside the Sully District Police Station last May were inscribed Tuesday on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the District during the annual Engraving Day ceremony.
Det. Vicky Armel and Master Police Officer Michael Garbarino were shot May 8, 2006, in the parking lot of the Sully District Station by a heavily armed, 18-year-old gunman who fired more than 70 rounds at police officers, before being shot and killed himself.
DET. ARMEL, a 17-year police veteran, was airlifted to a local hospital and pronounced dead. MPO Garbarino, a 23-year veteran, died nine days later. Their service and sacrifice are now memorialized on Panel 62-East of the Memorial, located in Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square.
"Vicky and Mike are heroes to their families and to the men and women of the Fairfax County Police Department, not for how they died, but for how they lived," said Fairfax County Chief of Police, Col. David Rohrer. "Their names are being engraved on the wall of the National Memorial, but, more importantly, they will forever be remembered and honored in our hearts," he said.
Added Craig W. Floyd, chairman and CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund: "It is certainly fitting that Det. Armel and MPO Garbarino are being honored on this national monument, alongside their fallen colleagues. The bravery and selflessness they displayed right up to their final moments — confronting danger and trying to protect others, including their fellow officers — are emblematic of all 17,917 fallen officers remembered on the Memorial."
Held each year in April, Engraving Day marks the beginning of the process of engraving new names on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The names of the 382 fallen law enforcement officers are being added this year, representing 145 officer deaths from 2006 and 237 from previous years.
THE NAMES will be formally dedicated on the Memorial during the 19th Annual Candlelight Vigil on May 13. The Candlelight Vigil is one of many events honoring America's fallen law enforcement officers during National Police Week, which runs this year from May 13-19.
"Seeing Vicky's and Mike's names engraved in the marble walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is a painful reminder of their loss," said Chief Rohrer. "But I know their families, including their Fairfax County Police Department 'family,' will be comforted by their inclusion alongside the many courageous men and women so deeply respected, honored and remembered."
Ten law enforcement officers from Virginia were killed during 2006. Only California, with 16, recorded more officer deaths last year.