WASHINGTON D.C. (WTAQ) – Vice President Joe Biden awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor today to 22 heroic police officers and firefighters.
Oak Creek patrolman Sam Lenda and retired Lieutenant Brian Murphy were honored for the way they responded at the Sikh Temple shooting massacre in 2012.
Murphy suffered a dozen bullet wounds in a shootout with the gunman who stormed the temple — and Lenda shot the gunman just before he had taken his own life.
Biden called all 22 medal recipients “an amazing bunch of individuals” who reacted without hesitation in putting other’s lives before theirs.
Attorney General Eric Holder said America owes a debt of gratitude to Lenda, Murphy, and the others — not just with words, but with actions. He said the Justice Department would continue to fight for public safety efforts.
Biden said the saddest part of today’s ceremony was honoring two other U.S. officers who were killed in their duties.
Officers who caught a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing were also among those given the Medals of Valor.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
