MILWAUKEE — More than 700 names of fallen officers from across the country will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in D.C. Thursday night, including two police officers from southeast Wisconsin.
Watch the ceremony here:
Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner was killed in the line of duty in February of 2019. He was serving a search warrant on a suspected gun and drug dealer when he was shot and killed.
Rittner also served with the U.S. Marines.
His wife, Caroline Rittner, spoke with TMJ4's Shannon Sims last year. Caroline Rittner told Shannon that she and her husband share a pact.
"He always promised he was coming," Caroline Rittner said in the emotional interview.
Now more than two years after her husband's death, Caroline will finally see his name up at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the nation's capital.
Also being honored there tonight is fallen Racine Police Officer John Hetland.
Hetland was killed in June of 2019 when he intervened in an armed robbery at a bar. He was off the clock at the time, but according to the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, because he was taking actions consistent with his law enforcement authority, it's considered a line of duty death.
Hetland was just month's away from retiring to spend more time with his family.
Both Hetland and Rittner would have been honored in the 2020 ceremony, but because of COVID-19, it was postponed.
