Funeral of US Capitol Officer William Evans underway

ADAMS, Mass. (AP) — Under a steady rain, the flag-draped casket of U.S. Capitol Police Officer William Evans was carried into a Massachusetts church on Thursday as dozens of state police troopers stood in the street and saluted.

Mourners, under a U.S. flag held aloft by an Adams Fire Department ladder truck, followed the casket into St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams for a private funeral Mass, that was followed early Thursday afternoon by a procession to Bellevue Cemetery — where Evans was to be laid to rest beside his father, Howard.

Hundreds of police officers from department across the region lined up outside the church and several residents stood under umbrellas nearby. Residents also gathered on nearby streets for the funeral procession to the cemetery.

Evans, 41, was raised in North Adams and Clarksburg and was a graduate of Drury High School and Western New England University in Springfield. He had served with the U.S. Capitol Police since 2003.

“He has been a member of the First Responder Unit for over 15 years and assigned at the North Barricade, where his fellow officers came to lovingly call him ‘King of the North,'” according to his obituary.

Even when he moved to Virginia, he maintained his loyalty to the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots, and participated in bowling and baseball leagues for his entire life.

He also loved board games.

“He spread his love of games to his family, with vacations spent around a table sharing laughs, critiquing strategies, and celebrating each other’s wins,” according to the obituary.

Evans was killed this month when a driver struck him and another officer at a barricade outside the Senate.

He lay in honor Wednesday in the Capitol Rotunda, where President Joe Biden in a eulogy said he was “defined by his dignity, his decency, his loyalty and his courage.”

Evans’ death hit the communities in the northwest corner of the state hard. North Adams has about 14,000 residents and Clarksburg has only about 1,700.

“It shouldn’t have happened but it did,” Adams resident Greg Trottier told The Boston Globe. “Everybody was in shock. In a big city or something like that it’s different, but when it happens somewhere like here — it’s just terrible. I didn’t personally know him, but I’m just here to pay my respects.”

Survivors include his children, Logan, 9, and Abigail, 7; their mother, Shannon Terranova; his mother, Janice; and his sister, Julie Kucyn.

Hundreds of people lined the streets Wednesday night as a hearse carrying Evans made its way to the funeral home, escorted by officers from several area departments, The Berkshire Eagle reported.

“It’s the way of the city,” North Adams Mayor Tom Bernard said. “We show up, we fold the arms around people when they’re in need, we come together when it counts. This is a night that counts.”

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