LORAIN, Ohio — One year after the death of Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner, hundreds gathered outside Lorain City Hall to honor the fallen officer.
Following the memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony, members of the Wagner family helped hand out hot dogs and ice cream to community members as they launched a push for more random acts of kindness.
"One of Phil's favorite foods was hotdogs and ice cream," Lenny Bush, Wagner's father-in-law, explained. "We're going to cook you hot dogs and ice cream as a random act of kindness."
For Jess Wagner, Phillip Wagner's wife, she now marks July 24 as the start of the new year (rather than Jan. 1) and asks others to see it as a new opportunity.
"We walk into this year without Phil — seeing the joy in things, seeing the ways we can impact others and the things you can do to make somebody realize they are where they need to be," she said.
Wagner died at the age of 35, one day after a gunman ambushed him and Officer Peter Gale while they were eating lunch.
During the standoff and gunfire that followed the attack, responding Officer Brent Payne was also shot.
"The man behind the badge was deeply caring, deeply loyal, funny and adventurous," Megan Wagner, his sister, said.
Bush said the hope is that the kindness spreads far beyond a single day.
"We do it because we want a community to get closer together and be better for everything and hopefully his death was not in vain," Bush said.
There is also a proposal to rename a road in Lorain to honor the fallen officer.
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