Hundreds Gather for Slain Jersey City Police Officer's Funeral

Several hundred mourners packed St. Aloysius Catholic Church Friday for the funeral Mass of a Jersey City police officer who was killed in an ambush last weekend.

Melvin Santiago, 23, a rookie on the force, was remembered as an eager learner who always wanted to follow in his uncle's footsteps and become a police officer, according to NJ.com as reported by the Associated Press.

Gov. Chris Christie and former Gov. Jim McGreevey were among the hundreds inside the Jersey City church, while more than a thousand law enforcement officers lined the surrounding streets, the AP reported.

More than 1,000 law enforcement officers, elected officials, community members, family and friends paid their final respects to Santiago during visitation hours Thursday at McLaughlin Funeral Home, according to NJ.com.

Santiago, 23, was killed early Sunday morning when he responded to a Jersey City Walgreens where Lawrence Campbell, 27, armed with a knife, took a security guard's gun and told witnesses to "watch the news later. I'm going to be famous."

Campbell killed Santiago when the officer arrived before he was fatally wounded by police.

A memorial placed in front of Campbell's Jersey City home has been taken down after it sparked outrage in the community.

Santiago was one of two New Jersey police officers to die in the line of duty in the past week. Waldwick Township Police Officer Christopher Goodell, 32, was killed early Thursday morning when his unmarked police cruiser was struck by an 18-wheeler on the shoulder of Route 17 in Bergen County.

"Melvin understood that being a police officer was dangerous, but that it was the highest calling of service possible," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said, according to the AP report.

"Melvin represented the best of that thin blue line which protects and defends civilized society from the indiscriminate violence which human beings are capable of."