Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

There is never really anything you can say to make this tragedy any easier. Corporal Sutphin was highly resepcted and will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the Montgomery County Shefiffs Office.

John 15:13
"The greatest love is shown when a man lays down his life for his friends."

Tazewell Police Dept.
Tazewell, VA

August 23, 2006

Corporal Sutphin,
You made the ultimate sacrafice to protect and serve the citizens of Blacksburg. Your sacrafice will not go unoticed and will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace.

To Corporal Sutphins Widow,
As the wife of a fellow brother in blue my heart goes out to the you and your twin daughters. I cannot begin to imagine the pain you must be in, or how difficult it was to open the door after the knock we all dread sounded. Please know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers. May God lend you and your family strength and guidance.

Tara
Wife of a Virginia Beach Police Officer

August 23, 2006

On behalf of the foundation and my family, your family and department have our deepest sympathy in the loss of Corporal Eric E. Sutphin. A family lost a father, a wife lost a husband, a department lost a dedicated officer and America lost a protector. We appreciate your dedication and contributions to the community and all of Virginia. Rest in Peace you will not be forgotten.

Ted Sjurseth
America's 9/11 Foundation, Inc.

August 23, 2006

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". John 15:13 Cpl. Sutphin went above and beyond this verse. Not only did he lay down his life for his friends, he did so for the citizens of this community that he didn't even know. Eric will be missed and never forgoten. Though it is the first word to come to mind, "Hero" does not do justice in describing the kind of man he was and will be remembered as. My sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to his family and those left behind at MCSO.

Former MCSO Deputy

August 23, 2006

I am truly saddened to hear that one of our hometown heroes life was taken in the line of duty. Everyday that I see one of our brave heros, I know that myself and my children are safe for another day. My deepest sympathy goes out to corp. Suthphins wife and children. He will be missed but will live on forever in our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family during this time. And thanks to you, Corp. Suthphin for laying down your life to help all of us keep ours. You are loved and will be truly missed.

Spring
Mont. Co Resident

Spring

August 23, 2006

my heart goes out to the police department and to the family. i had talked to him about a couple charges on me and and he was really nice and told me what i needed to do. he was very helpful. my heart goes out to each and everyone of u.

alice dickerson
citizen

August 23, 2006

Rest in peace brother, you will not be forgotten.

Patrolman Shaun McCready
Altoona (PA) Police Department

August 23, 2006

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."

My heartfelt sympathy to all friends and especially your family on this tragic day. I didn't know you personally but like so many others I knew of you. You are a true hero.

LEO Wife

August 23, 2006

Godspeed to you Eric.... may you now rest in peace. I will pray for you and your family.

Detention Officer
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Phoenix,Az

August 23, 2006

On Monday, August 21 2006 we lost a brother, but gained an Angel. You have paid the ultimate sacrifice to help protect your fellow man.

"Greater love hath no man, than to lay down his life for another" Kris Kristopherson.

Thank you fo what you did, you will never be forgotten.

Dep. Brandon Cocke
Bedford County Sheriff's Office

August 23, 2006

To Mrs. Sutphin and Family,

Words can not express the grief that I and the community feel for the loss of a husband and father. I can only imagine what you are going through in this time of suffering.

I got to know Eric for a brief period, as I rode the Huckleberry Trail with him during the first night of the manhunt. In those six hours, I found a man that loved his family and the Lord dearly. Eric was truely a great family man and an officer. The Bible in the book of Romans, Chapter 13, verse 4, speaks of police officers, and I quote:

"For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

I know Eric is in heaven and we will see him again on the other side. Eric did not die in vain. This is a hugh loss to the law enforcement community in Montgomery County Virginia, and we will never be able to replace such a great man.

May God bless and comfort you in this time of grief.

Police Officer K.T. Brewster
Blacksburg Police Department, Blacksburg VA

August 23, 2006

HERO's never die; they just walk a new beat.
GOD Bless you and your family, Rest In Peace my brother and know that the coward will face his maker on judgement day.

Officer Paladino
Colorado Springs PD

August 23, 2006

My thoughts & prayers go out to the Sutphin family in their time of sorrow. May God guide & comfort you in the days & weeks ahead. Words cannot express the gratitude of our community for the bravery & courage shown by Cpl. Sutphin. His sacrifice will not be forgotten. God bless you all.

Leisa
sister & daughter of police officers

August 23, 2006

REST IN PEACE BROTHER!

TROOPER
NJSP

August 23, 2006

"All it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing"
In life you chose to do something and evil did not win and did not win on this day nor in the past. It did not win on May 8. Your are a true hero you will be missed rest now. We will continue knowing you are watching over us.

Detective
Fairfax County Police

August 23, 2006

Eric- You will never know how much you impacted my husband's life. You were his co worker, his mentor, and most importantly his friend. I take comfort knowing that whenever he is out riding the trail that you will always be riding with him in spirit and protecting him. It was in church in May that you stood up and requested prayers for fallen law enforcement officers and their families and now those prayers are extended to you and your family. Rest knowing that we will be there to help take care of your wife and girls. We miss you tremedously.

Sara Snow
Wife of MCSO Deputy Eric Snow

August 23, 2006

You are a true hero. You died just doing what you do. We are all greatful for what you have done. That man is a very sick man for taking you away. We will always miss you and thank you for the braveness you showed. R.I.P

Heather

August 23, 2006

Eric,
You were a true Sheepdog. To the other sheepdogs...Stand fast, we have lost a member of the pack, but we still have work to do. To the sheep, pray for the loss of Corporal Sutphin and for those that protect you all day every day.

ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D.,author of "On Killing."

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that
may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,
even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth
dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the
United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive
creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the
murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate
is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans
are not inclined to hurt one another.

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent
crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record
rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which
means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one
in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are
committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably
less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still
remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people
who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme
provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the
pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow
into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue
shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and
someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For
now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves
feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there
who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil
men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget
that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in
denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to
protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy
for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But
what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow
citizens?
What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking
the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the
universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep,
wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes
them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the
world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire
extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids'
schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police
officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely
to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the
sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone
coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the
path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the
wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is
that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep
dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished
and removed.
The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative
democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that
there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them
where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our
airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much
rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to
hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough
high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not
have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had
nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT
teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel
those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs
feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded
hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt
differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how
many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a
sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a
funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the
breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a
righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous
battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move
to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep
pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After
the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America
said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said,
"Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I
could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a
warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there.
You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but
he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able
to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the
population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals
convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious,
predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast
majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped
walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like
big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able
to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be
genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most
people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans
are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was
honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the
man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an
operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other
three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone
and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to
the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a
transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business
people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves,
ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible
evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of
police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real
sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves.
They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be
whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay,
but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your
loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If
you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt
you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want
to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious
and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive
in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are
well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt
holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of
religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer
in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your
place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the
break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other
cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I
asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at
a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally
deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen
people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day
if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do
was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the
eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself
after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer
was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and
would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for
"heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective,
or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids'
school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can
happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often
their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog
quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with
yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there
helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically
destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is
counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and
horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth
when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't
train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy.
Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you
are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at
your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11
book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to
terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an
insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it
isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more
unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in
small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some
level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of
his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.

If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you
step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that
the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime.
Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you
walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to
yourself...
"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no
dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees,
a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on
the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the
other.
Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America
took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps
toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started
taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that
continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved
ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

Master Patrolman-K9 A.J. Gluba Jr
Albemarle County PD (VA)

August 23, 2006

Corporal Sutphin, may God bless you, your family and co-workers during this difficult time. You are a hero & heros are never forgotten.

Fairrfax county police,va

August 23, 2006

Having grown up in Blacksburg, this one hit close to home. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. God bless.

Det. M.T. Tuttle
Va. Beach Police Dept.

August 23, 2006

Eric, though I never met you I have heard stories of your heroism, professionalism, and dedication to duty from fellow officers. You have paid the ultimate sacrifice to duty. You are a true hero and you will be missed but never forgotten. My prayers go out to your family and my brothers and sisters in Montgomery County. Rest in Peace brother. May you guard the gates of heaven and I shall one day meet you there.

Officer G.D. Baker
Roanoke City Police Dept.

August 23, 2006

My prayers goes out to the family, friend and co-workers of Corporal Eric E. Sutphin. He paid the ultimate sacrifice his bravery. May you forever rest in peace my brother!

Sgt. Garey Bostick
Office Of Naval Intelligence Police Department

August 23, 2006

Jesus is my front sight,
Sovereign in my life.
In peace, or in battle,
He guides my warrior stride.
Jesus is my front sight,
FOR HIM NO MAN I FEAR!
Jesus is my front sight,
T'was He who led me here.

August 23, 2006

God bless you and your family. Only His grace and mercy will bring us through these troubled times. I didn't know you personally but you are still my hero. Rest in peace, brother.

Pfc J.A. Harris
Ark Highway Police

August 23, 2006

God Bless you Brother. May peace be with you and your family at this difficult time.

Detective Rick Gunning
Moorestown Police Cepartment

August 23, 2006