LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — Northeast Ohioians are still trying to process a shooting that killed a Lorain police officer, and while doing so, they're trying to show their support for those impacted.
It's been nearly a week since three Lorain police officers were ambushed on Riverbend Drive, and Ohioans are still reeling from the shooting.
RELATED: Lorain police officers ambushed by gunman with 'arsenal of weapons'
"It's senseless. It's sad. There's anger with that," Chris Beach told me on Monday.
Officers Peter Gale and Brent Payne are still recovering, but Officer Phillip Wagner tragically died on Thursday.
"There's a husband, there's a father, a son who will never get to go home and see his family again," Beach said. "I'm sure that was probably the last thing anybody thought was ever gonna happen. Being from this area my whole life, like you don't necessarily wake up in the morning and think you're gonna hear something like that happen in your neighborhood."
Beach said that as he was leaving work on Friday, he was stopped by Officer Wagner's procession.
"I sat there for about 15 minutes while the hearse and everybody came that was carrying the officer," he recalled. "I couldn't help but feel like, what would happen if I went to work one day and I couldn't come home? It's heartbreaking."
RELATED: VIDEO: Lorain Officer Wagner's procession from Cleveland to North Ridgeville
His neighbor, Sara Hackman, lost her 27-year-old brother earlier this year. He was a police officer in Glendale, Arizona.
"It hurts. It definitely hurts a little bit," Hackman said. "It's just really important to my husband and I that we support our officers that are, at the end of the day, here to protect us, like I have two small children, so I appreciate them."
Over in Amherst, Jake Palermo feels the same.
"It's been pretty rough. My family, my wife's family, we're all from Lorain. My uncle just retired from LPD (Lorain Police Department) last year after 30 years," Palermo said. "It hurt deep down for sure."
There's nothing anyone can do to rectify the outcome of this tragedy, and everyone acknowledges that, but to show their support for the police department, blue lights are going up in numbers.
"I live in a very high traffic area where there's a lot of cops and first responders that drive by on a daily basis on the hospital route, so they go by here all the time. We can at least show our support to them and that we care and believe that they're out there doing what they need to do to take care of us," Keith Simons of Lorain said.
Simons said he sent one of his drivers to Lowe's in Elyria on Monday to find a blue light bulb, but that location was sold out.
"They said the closest [location] that had any of the just blue lights was Macedonia," Simons said.
Simons managed to find a light bulb on his way home Monday night. He now has three bulbs that he is screwing into sockets.
Both Beach and Hackman have a string of blue lights on the front of their homes.
"Living in a neighborhood full of law enforcement all around us, we decided to put the lights out and stuff like that just to show some sort of support. If the most that we can do is turn on our lights to show support, it's something," Beach said.
Beach also has a white spotlight that shines on a tree in his front yard as a way to memorialize Officer Wagner.
Palermo bought his light bulbs online, which now light up his front porch blue.
"I knew I could get it the quickest. I just kind of made sure that it had multi-lights and blue being the main one I was looking for. I got it here in a day and got them right up as soon as I could," Palermo said.
The plan is for those who have blue lights up to keep them shining through Aug. 2, but when we asked homeowners on Monday if they plan to keep the bulbs up longer, everyone said yes.
"I'll leave them up all the time. I support the cops year-round," Simons
Officer Wagner's life and service will be honored on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
