Veterans from the American Legion Post 22 are making sure that 73-year-old Vietnam veteran Richard Gary Black gets full military honors for his funeral.
Fellow veterans want Black to have the funeral he deserves after being shot and killed by an Aurora, Colorado police officer last week, 9NEWS reported. Black was a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient.
Black was killed by police after he shot and killed a naked intruder that broke in and assaulted his 11-year-old grandson, American Military News reported last week.
Aurora Police responded to multiple reports of an incident on East Montview Boulevard.
When police arrived on the scene, they saw a man with a gun and ordered him to drop the weapon. When he didn’t comply, they fired and Black was killed.
Police are unsure whether Black refused orders, or didn’t hear them.
The story has made national news and garnered much attention.
Richard A. Reeves, a fellow Vietnam veteran who served with the 5th Marines said: “I heard about this a couple of days ago, then it sunk in … to be able to help this veteran and help his family, I think that most of us would really like to do that.”
Vets offer full military funeral for man shot by Aurora PD after killing intruder https://t.co/nneiwGdU0r pic.twitter.com/2899sXPICJ
— 9NEWS Denver (@9NEWS) August 4, 2018
“It hit me in the heart, like it hit everybody else. We’d like to do what we can do,” Reeves said.
“It’s payback for me, all my Vietnam service. You know how it was in Vietnam, when most of us was in Vietnam, nobody really wants to speak of it. But nowadays, people really respect that. Now we can go to our man and respect him for it. And show him honor for it. And that’s what we like to do,” Reeves said.
“We want to help our veterans. That’s what it’s about,” he added.
