MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Funeral services were held Tuesday for the Memphis Police officer who died after being shot while responding to a trespassing complaint at an East Memphis library.
Officer Geoffrey Redd, 49, died on Feb. 18, two weeks after the shooting at the Poplar-White Station Library.
Redd served in the Marine Corps before joining the Memphis Police Department in 2008. Redd worked in crisis intervention and trained fellow officers, colleagues said. He also was director of security at his church, the Greater Community Temple of the Church of God in Christ.
Redd, a husband and father, was honored Monday evening with a "Sea of Blue," in which law enforcement officers rode around Memphis with their vehicle lights turned on.
At his funeral Tuesday at Hope Church, pastors read from the Bible and strong-voiced singers performed religious anthems, backed by a choir.
James Patrick Riley, who served with Redd in the Marines, said that although Redd was not the biggest person, he was his unit's strongest Marine. Riley also recalled that Redd smiled a lot.
"I couldn't be grumpy around him," Riley said.
Lt. Tara Sloan of the West Point Police Department in Mississippi said she was a good friend of Redd's and she would remember him for his "dignity, dedication, spirituality and character." Friends and relatives called him a man of God who was set to complete a course in religious teaching this year.
Redd's Battalion roommate James Riley remembered his leadership while serving his country.
"Redd was always strong, always strong," strength beyond belief Riley said. “He embodied what Marine Core model; always faithful. He embodied that.”
Loved ones remembered him as a man committed to his Christian faith and local church, working as the director of security at, the greater community temple of the church of God in Christ.
During the funeral, Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis said Redd and his partner showed heroism in the confrontation at the library.
"I have no doubt that the ultimate sacrifice of this one precious life saved the lives of others who on that dreadful day were also in harm's way," Davis said.
The shooting investigation
Officers were called to the library Feb. 2, 2023 and encountered a man who had been the subject of a trespassing call in the same neighborhood, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Keli McAlister said.
The TBI said the man had started a confrontation with another person inside the library, and when two officers attempted to talk with him, he pulled out a weapon and shot Officer Redd. The TBI also confirmed that the other officer returned fire, shooting and killing Torence Jackson Jr., 28, of Indianapolis.
The TBI is working on the case at the request of the Shelby County prosecutor. The bureau often investigates shootings and other use-of-force incidents around the state when officers are involved.