The low-cost, New York-based airline Jet Blue is allowing two officers each from any police departments in the United States to fly in to New York free in order to attend the funeral of New York Police Department Officer Rafael Ramos, the Daily News reported.
Ramos and fellow officer Wenjian Liu were shot dead by Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley on Dec. 20. Brinsley left social media messages expressing rage over the deaths of Ferguson’s Michael Brown and New York City Eric Garner. Brinsley had also posted a koranic verse in support of jihadist terror.
The funeral for Ramos will be held this Saturday at the Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, Queens. The White House spokesperson said this week that Vice President Joe Biden will attend the funeral.
Arrangements for Wenjian Liu’s funeral have not yet been finalized, but Jet Blue is also planning to cover the cost for his relatives to fly in from China. This will be achieved by the airline partnering with other companies, as it intends to do in areas of the U.S. it does not cover.
The Silver Shield Foundation will cover the college costs for the Ramos children, as it has done with all the children of slain NYPD officers. Former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner created the Silver Shield Foundation in 1982.
Another charity, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, will pay the mortgages for the two slain officers. The Siller Foundation was created by the family of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who perished in the 9/11 inferno at the Twin Towers.