Some local law enforcement agencies are sending officers to pay respects to an officer killed in St. Mary Parish on Saturday.

Spokesmen for the Lake Charles Police Department, the Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Jennings Police Department say they are sending representatives to participate in the funeral motorcade of Sgt. Rick Riggenbach today.

Authorities said Riggenbach, a Chitimacha tribal police officer, was shot by Wilbert Thibodeaux.

Authorities said Riggenbach killed Eddie Lyons, 78, then set fire to his trailer earlier that day.

Lake Charles police are sending members of their motorcycle division, Deputy Chief Mark Kraus said.

He said the department is sending the officers “to show the good people of our communities, to show the guys who do abide by law and order that the guys who are enforcing law and order are standing together against crimes that affect everybody.”

He said the department sends officers to participate in funerals of slain officers if the location is within a day’s drive.

Jennings police will send four officers “out of respect for an officer who has given his life in the line of duty,” said Police Chief Todd D’Albor.

“In law enforcement we are family, even if we are not in the same department,” he said. “We consider ourselves family and call it a brotherhood.”

Allen Parish Sheriff Doug Hebert III also plans to send deputies to the funeral to represent local law enforcement agencies.

“This is a tragedy for all law enforcement,” Hebert said. “We are all on the same team and back up each other. We have to let other police officers know we are there for them and know they will be there for us.”

(Associated Press)

Lee Ball