"I have yet to find a word in English language that I can use to describe this," said Gadi Adelman, who serves as Chairman of the non-profit Back the Blue NC.
[Ads /]
Four officers -- one member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, two corrections officers, and a US Deputy Marshall -- were shot and killed as law enforcement attempted to serve a warrant. Four other officers were wounded, in what is one of the deadliest attacks on law enforcement in US history.
"My initial reaction was shock, followed by just a tremendous amount of sadness," added Carl Caulk, who is Executive Director of the US Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund.
Caulk, a North Carolina native, retired from the U.S. Marshals Service in 2015 after a 27-year career in federal law enforcement. He explained why these situations are so difficult for authorities.
"It's an arrest warrant for a fugitive. Generally, the individual knows that they're a fugitive. They know that they're wanted by law enforcement, and so that adds exponentially a higher level of danger than a regular law enforcement situation or even just a normal arrest warrant," said Caulk.
Team members with the US Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund are heading to North Carolina, as they look to provide help to family members of the fallen officers .
"We started this nonprofit so that we can provide an immediate level of financial assistance to families to try to help them get past the initial shock of the event and use that financial assistance for all the expenses that are going to be at hand," said Caulk.
In North Carolina, following a line of duty death, the state's Industrial Commission awards $100,000 to the victim's family or estate. There's also assistance made available for funeral costs and educational expenses, including tuition waivers for children between the ages of 17 and 23 years old.
[Ads /]
The State's Bar Association offers a scholarship for children of officers permanently disabled or killed in the line of duty.
Back the Blue NC, which is volunteer-run, is raising funds to disperse to the four families.
"We're trying to reach at least a quarter of a million (dollars) because this has to be split up between children and four wives. It's going to be kind of difficult, but we're going to carry through and we're going to make each and every one of these people, members of the Back the Blue family, and we're going to take care of them," said Adelman.
In the first 24 hours, a GoFundMe set up by Back the Blue NC had raised more than $63,000.
"We are proactive as well as reactive. So we always have fundraisers going for cases like this. But this is overwhelming," said Adelman.
The Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance provides death benefits to eligible survivors of public safety officers who are killed in the line of duty, as well as disability benefits for officers catastrophically injured, and education benefits to eligible spouses and children to officers killed or catastrophically injured.