Metro community says goodbye to fallen Clayton County officer

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Family, friends and complete strangers lined the streets of Clayton County to show support for a police officer who died protecting his community.

Officer Henry Laxson died last week responding to a domestic violence call in Rex.

NewsChopper 2 flew overhead Tuesday morning as dozens of officers escorted one of their own to his funeral in Jonesboro.

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Channel 2′s Audrey Washington was at Laxson’s funeral service, where she found police officers from just about every agency in the state in attendance.

“It’s just overwhelming to see the amount of love and support to one of our officers that have fallen in a line of duty,” said Malita Tyre with the National Civil Rights Honor Guard.

“It really hurt me really bad to see this happen, and I felt like I needed to be supportive (of) the family and the other officers,” police officer Michael Cooper said.

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Last week, while responding to a domestic disturbance in Rex, a gunman opened fire on Clayton County police.

During the shootout, several bullets hit Laxson. He later died at a nearby hospital.

Charlotte Cooper is married to a police officer and told Washington that she saw it as her duty to take a moment Tuesday to honor Laxson.

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“We just wanted to show our respects,” Cooper said. “For us to pay our respects means a whole lot.”

“He was serving our community. He was just doing his job,” Tyre said.

The Clayton County Fire Department made it a point to put an American flag up and fly it outside the church Tuesday.

Memorial for fallen Clayton County officer growing outside police station

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