Family, friends and colleagues of fallen Memphis police officer Martoiya Lang have gathered at Hope Presbyterian Church in Cordova for her funeral.
The public ceremony began at 11 a.m. Friday. Hundreds of officers from police departments across the Mid-South, including Olive Branch, Mt. Juliet and Jackson, attended. MPD officers wore black bands over their badges in honor of Lang.
Speaking during the funeral, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said Lang's death has been difficult to grasp.
"I throw myself on the mercy of the Lord and I'm thankful for his understanding. Because frankly, I have none," he said.
Wharton added that Lang "served with loyalty and integrity," and that her four children remain in the thoughts and prayers of the city.
"Those children are our children now...even though their mother is gone, they will never walk alone in this world," he said.
Lang, 32, will be interred at Southwoods Memorial Park Cemetery afterward.
The MPD officer of 9 years was gunned down last Friday when her Organized Crime Unit team came under fire while executing a narcotics search warrant at a Berclair home.
Thursday night, area law enforcement honored Lang with a "Sea of Blue" procession from North Hollywood to Hope Presbyterian.
Copyright 2012 - The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
