FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Sgt. Chris Reyka, a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy killed in the line of duty four years ago, was honored Thursday in a ceremony remembering fallen officers.
Along with Reyka, the Sheriff's Office honored the memories of Dania Town Marshal W.L. Cox, who was fatally shot in 1915; Deputy Arthur Fillebrown, who died in a crash on his first day alone on patrol in 1957; Deputy Robert Milligan, who was fatally shot in 1978; Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Capt. Raymond Kerr, who was fatally shot while serving an eviction notice in 2003; and Deputy Todd Fatta, who was fatally shot in 2004.
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In 2007, Reyka was investigating a vehicle suspiciously parked at a Pompano Beach Walgreens store when he was fatally shot. No arrests have been made in the killing, and BSO has yet to name a suspect.
"It would be nice to know. It's not going to necessarily change how I do things in my life," said Reyka's widow, Kim Reyka. "It would put the pieces to the puzzle together to know what type person -- I guess it's a mystery, like when you're reading a book. Who did it? Why did they do it? What was their background? What led them to this point?"
Thursday's service was an emotional ceremony held in the lobby of the Sheriff's Office.
"It's not how they died that made them heroes. It's how they lived. They knew when they came to work that day that they may have to lay down their life for their friends and their fellow man, and they did it selflessly, willingly and without hesitation," Sheriff Al Lamberti said
The sheriff said that as of August, 114 law enforcement officers nationwide had been killed in the line of duty in 2011. Eleven of those were in Florida.