Georgetown vigil: 'Stephen was worthy of this'

Less than a week after the fatal shooting of a Delaware State Trooper, Delmarva residents grieved for the loss of a law enforcement officer.

Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard, an eight-year veteran of Delaware State Police, was responding to reports of a suspicious vehicle at a Wawa parking lot when he was shot and killed April 26 in Bear, Delaware. The suspect in the killing, 26-year-old Burgon Sealy Jr., was shot and killed at his family’s Brick Mill Farm house when he emerged armed after a roughly 21-hour standoff with police.

RELATED: Police see change in public sentiment since shooting

There was an immediate outpouring of support from area law enforcement agencies on social media, and hundreds of people have delivered flowers and balloons to the site where Ballard was killed. Donations have already reached $188,000 in less than four days.

The support continued Monday night with a vigil on Georgetown Circle, drawing family, community and colleagues alike to pay homage to the fallen officer.

Louise Ballard spoke for the first time in public since the death of her husband. She kept her remarks short.

“I chose to speak here because this is where we met,” Louise Ballard said. “This is where Stephen started his career at Troop 4. This is where we were engaged in Dewey Beach. This is where we spent a lot of time together. I found it fitting to address you for a few minutes this evening and say thank you."

"I am the one who moved him from Sussex County, so I'm sorry for that," Ballard said with a heartfelt laugh. "He was very proud to serve each county in Delaware."

Stephanie Williams, Ballard’s godmother, was among those in attendance.

“I’m very pleased with the outpouring of support from the community,” she said. “Stephen was worthy of this, and I feel like his mission, what he strived for, was truly completed and that he’s finally gone on home.”

Judy King, an 18-year resident of Georgetown with family members in the Delaware State Police, said it was important for the community to get together to honor Ballard’s death — to push back against the violence police faced in the past.

“For me, this feels like what’s happened before, where there’s a never-ending story between cops and criminals,” she said. “It’s just one thing after another, and it has to stop.

“I’m here, and we’re all here, standing against that.”

Sussex County dignitaries also took time to honor Ballard and his family in attendance Monday night. Sen. Brian Pettyjohn was the master of ceremonies and was joined by Georgetown Mayor Bill West and Reps. Ruth Briggs-Kind and Peter Schwartzkopf.

It was an emotional evening in Georgetown as hundreds showed support of the fallen trooper, lighting candles at the end of the ceremony, creating a peaceful glow around the Georgetown Circle.

The mourning of Ballard since the shooting Wednesday has spread throughout Delmarva, touching officers on all agencies.

The way police officials respond to a line of duty death differs from the emotional response of the public, said Lt. Edward Schreier, spokesman for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department.

“You look at it from a point of view that most normal people don’t have,” Schreier said. “When something like this happens, most officers tend to think logistically. What can we do to solve the problem? We’ve trained all our lives to find a problem and solve it.

“We look for resources to find the suspect and to hopefully bring the event to a peaceful conclusion which, unfortunately, this one didn’t have as the suspect escalated it,” Schreier said.

After the standoff concluded, that's the opportunity for police officers to grieve, Schreier said.

It's the loss of "a family member, a brother or sister that was taken just because they were doing their job,” Schreier said.

“The only thing (Cpl. Ballard) was doing was what the state of Delaware asked him to do, and he wasn’t afraid to walk into a situation like that,” Schreier added.

In March, a Worcester County Sheriff's deputy and Ocean View police officer fired into an SUV racing toward them after a multi-state police chase. The police-involved shooting was something that had only occurred once in Ocean View Police Department history, said Ocean View Police Chief Kenneth McLaughlin at the time.

"This sort of thing just didn't happen 10 to 20 years ago," McLaughlin said in March.

RELATED: Wawa where officer was fatally shot reopens

In the past year, tensions have been at an all-time high as officers around the country have become the target of scrutiny for their use of force as well as being targeted in multiple attacks, like the ones in Dallas and Louisiana.

But police in Delaware have already noted a change in public sentiment since the death of Ballard.

"I have never witnessed anything that compares to what these past few days have brought to us," Delaware State Police Capt. J. Sapp said at the Wawa memorial Monday morning. "I dare say it has changed my life."

Law enforcement fatalities hit a five-year high in 2016, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, with 135 officers killed in the line of duty. Last year, 21 were killed in ambush-style attacks — the highest in more than two decades.

But Schreier said officers accept and understand the risks implied by this uptick in police violence without it having an impact on their performance.

“It’s a mindset where you go to work knowing that you’re going to succeed; where your success and the success of your partners is the priority,” he said. “Whether it’s an uptick or downtick, it doesn’t really play a role. It’s about getting the job done and getting to go home.”

Lt. Jaime Riddle, spokesman for the Rehoboth Police Department, said police officers are “unwavering” in response to reports of violence against their own.

“Police officers go out every day and they don’t focus on the dangers,” he said. “They’re guardians — their job is to guard our society and the freedoms we have, and to help victims who can’t help themselves, and if they went out with a mentality focused on the dangers of the job they’d never be able to perform.”

The focus on what police officers sacrifice during the line of duty was the center of attention Monday in Georgetown.

"The thin blue line is what separates the lawful from the lawless, the good from the evil, and it’s necessary in today’s society, unfortunately," said Sen. Pettyjohn. "When there’s a death within the ranks, there’s a responsibility within the community to support the brothers and sisters in law enforcement to allow them to heal."

The News Journal's Brittany Horn contributed to this report.