At three years old, twins Henry and Jimmy Otto may not understand Officer Amy Caprio's sacrifice, but for their mother, placing flowers at a makeshift memorial outside the Parkville Police Precinct is a teaching moment.
"It's absolutely a tragedy just to see a young, female officer who was getting ready to celebrate her anniversary... (I) just wanted to show the boys who protects the community and how they do it so we made the drive up from Westminster," said Meghan Otto.
Some fear it is a lesson lost upon some people today, as news spread that four teens face murder charges in connection with the officer's death.
"People don't appreciate the police like they should appreciate them," said Kelly Requard of Perry Hall.
"When I was growing up, if I saw a police officer, I stopped dead in my tracks and listened," added her mother, Mary Wroten.
"It's just a shame,” said Vince Blake of Perry Hall, “The poor girl was just doing her job, and they got to come out here and try to burglarize the county now. It's just terrible."
"It just hits you. It hits you right here," said Steve Nowowiejski as pointed to his heart.
On this day, dozens of officers from throughout the region also converged at the precinct.
"We are the member of the Warrant Apprehension Task Force and our unit combined with the U.S. Marshals and Career Criminal Unit of the Apprehension Task Force participated in the apprehension of the suspects that were responsible for the murder of Officer Caprio," said Lt. Bill Lally as the men and women emptied out of a convoy of unmarked, black vehicles with their police lights engaged.
They delivered an operations shirt signed by every member, plenty of hugs for their fellow officers and each one delivered their own personal sympathies to the officer's family.
"In the hours following this, we really didn't have the opportunity to come and express our condolences, but now that we've had a chance we've asked to come up and wanted to come up as a team and support the members of the Parkville Police Station and the police family and let them know that we support them,” said Lally, “This is a rough time and just to let them know that we're going to get through this and we'll be there for them."
