Garden Grove Service Will Honor City’s 4 Slain Officers

The four police officers killed in the line of duty in the history of the Police Department will be honored May 14 at the department’s fifth annual Memorial Service, a program held each year in commemoration of National Police Officers Week.

Sgt. Myron Trapp, Reserve Officer Andy Reese and Officers Donald Reed and Michael Rainford were the officers killed on duty.

Trapp was killed on Oct. 6, 1959, when he and other officers responded to a report of a man firing several rifle shots from his house at a construction crew because their work reportedly disturbed him while he watched a televised baseball game.

Trapp, using a public address system, first tried to talk the man out of the house. When that failed, he approached the house and saw the man brandishing his weapon.

Trapp turned to warn fellow officers near the front door and the man opened fire, hitting Trapp in the chest. He died almost instantly.

Reese was killed on May 30, 1970, while directing traffic at Brookhurst Street and Trask Avenue during the Strawberry Festival. An impatient driver who reportedly didn’t want to wait in line swerved around the waiting vehicles and struck Reese.

Reed was killed on June 7, 1980, when he and three other officers went to the Cripple Creek bar to serve a narcotics warrant. The suspect broke free from officers who were attempting to escort him from the bar, produced a gun and fired toward the bar, striking Reed in the head. Two other officers also were wounded.

Rainford was killed on Nov. 7, 1980, after he stopped a traffic violator on an off-ramp of the Garden Grove Freeway and a drunk driver ran over him.

Guest speaker at the May 14 memorial program will be Marianne Wrede, president of the Southern California chapter of the Concerns of Police Survivors, a nationwide support group for families of officers who die in the line of duty.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony.