St. Louis Police Officer Blake Snyder was killed in the line of duty after responding to a disturbance call in the wee hours of the morning on Oct. 6 — and for the past two months, the community has been helping keep his memory alive for his wife and young son.
Last week his wife, Elizabeth Snyder, posted a photo on Facebook showing her two-year-old son, Malachi, clutching two teddy bears that had been made for him from his daddy’s police uniform.
[lz_third_party align=center includes=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207393772231779&set=a.1332832050135.2039779.1511060888&type=3&theater]
The BackStoppers, an organization in St. Louis, Missouri, provides financial assistance to families of slain police officers. The group is continuing to raise money for the Snyder family, Fox News reported.
The group, formed in 1959, provides needed financial assistance and support to the spouses and dependent children of all police officers, firefighters and volunteer firefighters, and publicly funded paramedics and EMTs in the St. Louis area who have lost their lives or suffered a catastrophic injury performing their duty. Currently it’s serving some 80 families.
Blake Snyder, who was 33 and had four years of service withe the St. Louis Police Department, was shot and killed point-blank while responding to a disturbance call in the Green Park neighborhood of St. Louis. “He sacrificed his life for others,” said his devoted wife.
The suspect was identified as Trenton Forster, 18, who had already faced a felony marijuana charge and who allegedly filled his social media account with disgust for the police and posts about drug use, according to a report in Heavy.com.
The couple’s little boy “has been asking for his daddy a lot, which is hard, because I don’t know how to respond to him yet,” Elizabeth Snyder said during a recent Fox News interview as she choked back tears.
“I am deeply proud of my husband, he is a hero, a true hero — and his son will grow up knowing that. He will know his father died for [others]. I know this about Blake — if he had the choice to go back and do it again, I know he would. That’s how much he cared, and protected and served. He is so selfless.”
Related: Bringing Police and People Together for Good
She added, “He made the ultimate sacrifice and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Elizabeth Snyder told the community she is so grateful for all of the support she has received — and is still receiving — two months after her husband’s death.
Join the Discussion
Comments are currently closed.