CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Hundreds of police officers from across the metropolitan area and others filled St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel on the Southwest Side for the emotional funeral Mass for Chicago Police Officer Ella French, whose life was taken from her while making a traffic stop nearly two weeks ago on the South Side.
The private funeral began at 10 a.m. Cardinal Blase Cupich gave the homily.
Her mother spoke near the end of the nearly 90-minute funeral Mass for the woman many knew as Officer Ella French, and she remembered as the adopted daughter with a smile that filled her home and her heart.
"I have two children, Ella and Andrew. They are my heart. Today I am here with half my heart," said Elizabeth French.
Cardinal Blase Cupich spoke of Officer French as a woman who truly wanted to make a difference.
"She was strong enough to connect with people on the level of human weakness, and so should we be in her memory," Cupich said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown were in attendance, but did not speak.
Following the services, there was a procession to the crematorium.
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The funeral comes after a visitation that was held Wednesday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel. Hundreds came out to pay their respects.
Among them was Officer Sherese Parsegian, who at 27-years old, is only a couple of years younger than her fallen comrade.
“When I found out what happened to her, I got really, really sad, because that night I was supposed to work in the area where she died,” Parsegian said.
Also attending was retired Officer Yolanda Ortiz, who recalled another member of the Chicago Police Department member killed in the line of duty.
“I lost a great friend on the job, which was Cmdr. Paul Bauer,” Ortiz said. “That one hit me just as hard as this one with Officer French. I didn’t know her. But still — she’s part of this big family.”
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Officer Ella French, 29, was killed Aug. 7, and her partner was critically wounded, when a motorist opened fire on them during a traffic stop in West Englewood.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled French’s death a homicide.
Two brothers have since been charged in the shooting. A third person was arrested but never charged.
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French, who was assigned to the Community Safety Team, had been with the Chicago Police Department since April 2018. She was the first female Chicago police officer to be killed in the line of duty in 21 years.
She is survived by her mother and four brothers.
Her brother, Andrew French, told the Sun-Times Ella joined the Chicago Police Department because she “wanted to do good for the world."
“You know I never questioned it. Same as she never questioned me joining the Army,” Andrew French wrote in a message to the Chicago Sun-Times on Facebook on Sunday night.
“…My sister is a bada**. She always wanted to make a difference…however it was possible. I was never surprised when she said she was going to be a sheriff and then a cop. It just made sense.”
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Andrew French also spoke at a vigil Tuesday night outside the 10th District police station in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.
“She loved hard and she loved this city. She loved everything about it except for the nasty parts that we all know. And she made a point of becoming a police officer to try and change those things,” Andrew French said.
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