Call to forgive
By REUVEN FENTONNew York Post
January 7, 2012
It was time to grieve — and to forgive.
As thousands of heartbroken mourners paid their final respects to ATF agent John Capano at his funeral yesterday, the slain hero’s brother called for forgiveness for the fellow lawman who shot him to death during a “friendly fire” incident.
“Let us not forget that others responded that day to stop a crime,” James Capano told the crowd at St. William the Abbot Roman Catholic Church in Seaford, LI.
According to sources, the 51-year-old Capano was shot in the chest by retired Nassau County Police Lt. Chris Geraghty, 54, as they and off-duty NYPD Officer Joseph Abria tried to stop a drug robbery at a Seaford pharmacy.
“Please remember they have families and acted as John did,” James Capano said. “However this turns out, I ask that we pray for them, too.”
The Capano family was joined by a sea of law-enforcement officers, including hundreds of ATF agents who stood in formation with their gold shields showing outside the Long Island church.
Capano’s wife Dori, daughter Natalie, 15, and son John, 18, arrived in an SUV at the church, where just weeks ago the Capano family held a funeral for his mom, Helen.
In a program for the funeral, the family printed a letter from Natalie about her late dad.
“My Dad is a hero, because of everything he has done for others no matter the size,” she wrote. “It wasn’t just the final act that made my Dad a hero, it was everything he did throughout his life.”
“We all know and love him for something and it wasn’t just his final heroic act. We love him as husband, father, son, brother, uncle, nephew, friend, cousin, agent, neighbor, and co-worker,” she added.
Prominent mourners included Attorney General Eric Holder, US Attorney Loretta Lynch and Rep. Peter King (R-LI).
Holder called Capano, an explosives expert who trained military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, a “true patriot.”
“Even in the company of some of the most elite law-enforcement professionals in the nation, Senior Special Agent Capano stood out,” Holder said in his eulogy. “In ways both large and small, John Capano will be dearly missed.”