Family, friends and fellow officers are set to remember slain Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston at her funeral Wednesday.
Preston was shot and killed as she returned to her Avalon Park home from a late-night shift in early May.
Hundreds of officers in dress blues lined the residential Roseland street outside Trinity United Church of Christ, awaiting Preston’s 10 a.m. funeral. First responders from dozens of nearby agencies waited in ranks under budding green trees as bagpipers practiced their mourning song.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot are expected to attend the services for the 24-year-old officer, who was just about to graduate with a master’s degree from Loyola University Chicago.
Police leadership described Preston as a rising star and “a lion.” Family remembered her as an “intelligent” and “happy” person.
“She was all that and more,” Preston’s grandfather told the Tribune shortly after her death. “I can’t speak about her without breaking up.”
Early May 6, three people jumped out of a sedan and ran toward Preston as she walked from her car to her home, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Preston was wearing her police uniform when she was attacked. The Chicago Police Department ruled her death was a line-of-duty death, a decision that will entitle her family to greater financial support.
Four teens arrested two days after the fatal shooting are being held without bond. The group had gone on a violent crime spree before attacking Preston, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors charged them with murder and a slew of other felonies, including robbery and arson.