Funeral service underway for fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer

Hundred of friends, family and other law enforcement members are gathering Friday morning to honor and lay to rest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer.

Bagpipes could be heard throughout the streets as Eyer’s casket, draped in an American flag, was carried by cassion, with one horse following behind with no rider for Officer Eyer, down E. Trade Street to First Baptist Church on S. Davidson Street.

“The sea of officers is incredible. I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Spectrum News 1 Reporter Estephany Escobar as she stood along the route.

The casket was carried into the church by his father, three siblings and brothers-in-law.

The funeral service for Eyer began around 10:15 a.m, the church filled well beyond capacity. After the service, a procession will escort Eyer to Sharon Memorial Park on Monroe Road. 

CMPD will livestream the service, which can be viewed here.

Along with thousands of officers, the funeral was attended by Ashley and Andrew Eyer, Joshua’s wife and three-year-old son, his parents and other members of his family, who sat in the first row, just in front of the casket. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Chief of Police Johnny Jennings were also in attendance.

The first eulogy was delivered by Pastor Justin Wallace.

“We are asking why did God allow this to happen? We ask how can we walk through times of suffering?” Wallace said.

Eyer is one of four law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty on Monday, April 29 in a normally quiet northeast Charlotte neighborhood. Four other officers were injured, but are expected to recover.

Several members of a U.S. Marshal joint-agency task force were attempting to serve warrants on a suspect charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of eluding when the deadly shooting happened. The suspect began shooting at officers before being killed in front of the home, police said.

Officer William “Alden” Elliott, Officer Sam Poloche and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr. also died as a result of the shooting.

It is the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since 2016, according to The Associated Press.

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Eyer, 31, had just been named one of the department’s employees of the month for April.

“Just a few weeks ago I’m shaking his hand congratulating him for being Officer of the Month in our command center. And that’s because of his work in the community, because of his work getting guns off the street and because of how he responds to his cases and how he treats people,” Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“As he demonstrated yesterday, he’s the kind of officer you want to respond when you need help. He was rushing in to help a task force officer when he was taken on by gunfire,” Jennings said.

Eyer, a native of Hackettstown, New Jersey, had served with the department for six years in the North Tryon Division and was a member of the 178th Recruit Class, according to police.

In addition to his job with the police, Eyer served in the North Carolina Army National Guard from 2011 to 2023, when he was honorably discharged. He obtained the rank of sergeant first class and deployed overseas twice, according to the Guard. He was a military police soldier for most of his career apart from a period in 2019 when he served as a combat engineer, according to the Guard.

Brandon Mancilla said he served with Eyer in Kuwait in 2020, where Eyer was in charge of some of his missions.

Eyer was tough and strict, but also kind, he said.

“I was a 19-year-old, an immature kid, but I just needed somebody who was going to be patient,” Mancilla said. “The cool thing is he realized that and would show you the right way to do things. … He talked to me almost like a father would talk to a son.”

Officials say a procession for Poloche will begin at 3 p.m. Friday, beginning at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office. The destination has not been released at this time. We are working to gather more details.