A somber day that began with a memorial for three Burnsville first responders ended with a procession Wednesday from Grace Church in Eden Prairie, to the city where their lives ended and mourners gathered to pay their respects.
Matthew Ruge and Paul Elmstrand of the Burnsville Police Department, and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth died in the line of duty February 18.
Mourners waited in 20-degree weather to pay their respects and emotions ran high in those that were gathered.
One man WCCO Radio spoke to was extremely emotional about the scene.
"It's a tough thing. Very tough thing," he said. "But yeah, it's the people. It's this lady and the others that are out here. It's like everybody needs to show their support for their law enforcement and seeing all the other cities, law enforcement, their cars running around and taking over. It's just, it's such a wonderful thing. It's nice to see some unity for once."
"It was important to me to be here because I personally knew Officer Paul (Elmstrand) and I'm a part of the Apple Valley Explorers program for the Police Department," said another woman who was along the route. "So this just hit really close to home and it was one of my ways to be able to show support to everyone in the community and the family."
The route will end near the Burnsville Police Department before dispersing on Interstate 35W.
"I really thought it was important to be here today because I've seen firsthand the impact that these heroes have had in our community kind of working in the local community," said another person along the route. "I've seen some of them respond to situations and just be here to support us, and bring calm to the community."
Drivers in the south metro can expect road closures and traffic delays. You can see a map of the impacted roads here.