Pritzker "Following the Request" of Slain Officer's Family in Avoiding Funeral
Governor JB Pritzker speaking in Chicago Monday.
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Governor JB Pritzker said Monday he was not offended the family of a murdered Chicago Police officer did not want he or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to attend the officer’s funeral.
A tweet early Monday morning from State Comptroller Susana Mendoza said the mother of Officer Luis Huesca, who was murdered while driving home from work last week, asked her to tell Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson not to attend the funeral.
“Last night at [Officer] Huesca's visitation, his grief stricken mother asked Rep. Angelica Guerrero Cuellar (D-Chicago) and me to please tell [Mayor Johnson] he was unwelcome at her son’s funeral,” she wrote. “We both called him before 10pm [Sunday] asking he please honor her wishes.”
Johnson had planned to attend the funeral, but reversed course Monday morning.
We’re told the Governor’s office had previously been told he wasn’t welcome. We’re told the family believed Pritzker and Johnson “don’t support the police.”
Speaking at an unrelated news conference Monday, Pritzker said he did not take the family’s request personally.
“It is really up to the family if they want the attention that comes with, and all of the hullabaloo that comes with, public officials attending,” he said. “So, I always follow the request of the family to do whatever it is that makes them most comfortable.”
Pritzker had been criticized in some circles because his initial statement did not call Huesca’s killing a “murder.”
“I understand that this was a murder. This was a terrible crime that was perpetrated against somebody who is, not only a law enforcement officer, but a good person,” Pritzker said. “The intention here is to honor his passing and his life and the work that he did.”
Pritzker did not mention Officer Huesca by name in his comments Monday.
Johnson issued a statement Monday saying his “heart is with the Huesca family.”
Huesca was 30 years old.