Family members, friends, elected leaders and community members packed Saint Andrews Greek Orthodox Church on Friday morning for the funeral of Chicago Police Officer John Bartholomew, a 10-year veteran killed in the line of duty on April 25.
Mayor Johnson and CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling were in attendance, and dozens of Chicago Police officers lined up outside the church as the service got underway.
Bartholomew was shot with his partner while they escorted a robbery suspect at Swedish hospital, a call that turned deadly and left Officer Nelson Crespo critically injured. Crespo is still recovering.
The funeral marked one of the hardest public moments yet in the aftermath of the April 25 shooting, bringing together the department, the city and the officer's family under one roof while his longtime partner remained out of public view as he healed.
From the church, the procession to the cemetery was scheduled to travel south on Lake Shore Drive, with heavy traffic and street closures expected until 3 p.m. The route was a final public passage for an officer whose death has forced Chicago police back into mourning while the investigation's human cost remains visible in the recovery of his partner.
What comes next is not another ceremony but the long work that follows it: for Crespo, recovery, and for the department, the question of how it honors Bartholomew's 10 years of service after a killing that happened while he was doing his job.
