PEQUOT LAKES, Minn. — Crowds assembled early Saturday morning throughout the Brainerd Lakes area.
Carrying folding chairs, sunglasses and American flags, people lined Highway 371 for nearly twenty miles, nestling into grassy areas near the roadway or finding space in car dealership parking lots. Some stationed themselves aboard boats on Gull Lake, while others stood on the roof of a grocery store overlooking traffic.
They all came together to witness a law enforcement procession carrying fallen Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin, a Minnesota native who lost his life in the line of duty on July 14.
“Wonderful family. Wonderful man,” Maribeth Brooks said from her position near Baxter. “The procession, for me, says we are here for them.”
Although Wallin grew up in St. Michael, his family’s ties to the Brainerd Lakes region date back decades. His father, for example, grew up in Pequot Lakes, the final stop on the procession and site of Saturday’s public memorial service inside the high school gymnasium.
Jon Bachman, a local firefighter who brought his family to watch the procession move through Nisswa, called the Wallin family a “staple in this community.”
“[The crowd] just keeps on growing and growing. More and more people show up,” Bachman said. “It’s hard to see this. But I’m glad to see that everybody is out here supporting this.”
When the memorial service began shortly after 10:30 a.m., family and friends packed the gym, along with hundreds of uniformed military members and law enforcement officers. Wallin, a veteran of the Minnesota National Guard who had done tours in the Middle East, officially joined the Fargo Police Department this spring and was still in training when he died on July 14.
At Saturday’s service, Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski revealed that Wallin lost his life while trying to save two of his fellow officers after they’d been shot. According to the chief, Wallin used his military instincts to “create distance” with the suspect before trying to open fire on the suspect himself.
“He faced down a murderous and evil person who was committed to harming others, so that others wouldn’t have to,” Zibolski said. “That’s the mark of a true guardian.”
Wallin’s aunt, Jodi, said her nephew joined the Fargo Police Department so that he could feel purpose in his job each and every day.
“Looking across the room today, I can see that he definitely made a difference. As much as he loved being a police officer and a sergeant in the Guard, Jake was also so much more than just those things,” Jodi Wallin said. “To each of us who knew him, he was just Jake. There will never be another like him. He was greatly loved. And he is dearly and deeply missed.”
As the memorial service concluded, crowds began to gather again in downtown Pequot Lakes for a final procession of law enforcement.
One by one, squad cars made their way back to Highway 371 through Patriot Avenue and Main Street, utilizing their lights but no sirens as supporters waved.
Hannah Droogsma, whose father is a retired police officer, lost count of the agencies represented in the procession. They had come from all corners of the state – even out of state, in the case of the Omaha Police Department – to pay tribute to Officer Wallin.
“It’s very emotional,” Droogsma said, “to think of the life that he had left to live, and the things he could have done.”
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