Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department reads a section of the Roll Call during the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum Fund’s 37th Annual Candlelight Vigil held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday evening, May 13, a steady rain poured down during the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum Fund’s 37th Annual Candlelight Vigil held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Undeterred, from shortly after 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., the memorial fund’s board of directors and special guests from across the United States read aloud sections of the “Roll Call of Heroes” to honor the sacrifice of the 345 fallen officers whose names were added to the Memorial Wall this April. Four fallen Virginian officers unexpectedly died in service to their communities, leaving behind their wives, families, and friends to live without them.
Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department joined in reading a roll call section. It is the list of officers killed in the line of duty whose names are newly engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial as of April 2025.
In its release, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that the "Roll Call of Heroes 2025" honored 148 federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2024. It also listed the names of 197 officers from previous years, as far back as 1834; these were recently approved by the research department of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
“As we gather again to honor our fallen officers, we’re reminded not only of the lives they gave, but of the unwavering devotion that led them to serve,” William Alexander, ceo of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said in an April 2 newsroom release.
Four Virginia officers' names, departments, and end-of-watch dates are newly engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Names of Virginia Officer Fatalities Added to the Memorial Wall, April 2025:
Sergeant Floyd H. Miles Jr., suffered a fatal heart attack while struggling with a subject inside an ambulance in 2024. Deputy Sheriff Hunter D. Reedy was shot and killed while assisting officers from the Marion Police Department with a traffic stop in 2024. Correctional Officer Joel Legaspi suffered a fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage after working mandatory overtime hours at the Indian Creek Medical Center in 2018. Warden Earl R. Barksdale died as a result of contracting COVID-19 while serving at the Baskerville Correctional Center in 2020.
The memorial includes a panel/line location for their names. The nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund maintains the memorial.
There is a 25 percent increase in the number of law enforcement professionals nationwide who died in the line of duty in 2024, compared to 2023, according to preliminary data gathered by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Preliminary data revealed that 148 federal, state, county, municipal, military, tribal, and U.S. territories officers died in the line of duty in 2024, compared to the 118 officers who died in the line of duty in 2023.
With this year's names added, the memorial includes 24,412 officers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, federal law enforcement, and university and military police organizations.
A Breakdown of Leading Officer 2024 Fatalities [Source: 2024 End of Year Law Enforcement Officers Fatalities Report]
* Firearms-related deaths were the leading cause of death: 52 officers killed in 2024, a 13 percent increase compared to the 46 officers killed by gunfire in 2023. An examination of the firearms-related fatalities reveals that the leading circumstance is traffic enforcement, which accounted for nine fatalities, followed closely by eight fatalities each for attempting arrest and serving felony or misdemeanor warrants, civil papers, or evictions. As for firearms-related fatalities, 27 involved a handgun.
* Traffic-related fatalities: 46 officer deaths in 2024, an increase of 48 percent compared to 31 deaths in 2023.
* The other three most significant causes of officer fatalities in 2024 are that 35 officers’ fatalities were physically related, four officers drowned, and four were beaten to death.