Family, friends and fellow officers gathered to remember slain Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston at her funeral Wednesday, praising her commitment to the city and her job, which ended in the ultimate sacrifice.
Preston, 24, was shot and killed as she returned to her Avalon Park home from a late-night shift in early May. As her loved ones celebrated her life, they recalled her enormous personality and warm smile. She was loving, engaging and eager to make the world a better place, they said.
Mourners sobbed as the black hearse carrying Preston arrived. Loved ones held one another up, Preston’s sister crying out as bagpipers played.
The police ranks saluted as officers lifted Preston’s white casket from the hearse. It was draped in Chicago’s four-star flag. Preston’s fellow 5th District officers wore yellow ribbons on their badges. It was her favorite color, police said.
As Preston’s casket was carried past city leaders, including new Mayor Brandon Johnson, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and interim Chicago Police Department Superintendent Fred Waller, a hush fell over the crowd. The only sounds came from overhead helicopters and rustling leaves.
Inside the service at Trinity United Church of Christ, Preston’s mother, Dionne Mhoon, first thanked God for “loaning us this angel.”
“I gave my baby everything I had, and then some. I was determined to invest in her, so in return she could invest in the world. And Aréanah did just that,” Mhoon said. “Death is only a tragic thing if you have not lived. My baby lived. I am because of her. I pray for peace in our homes. I pray for peace in our communities. And I pray for peace in my heart.”
Lightfoot recalled the many police funerals she attended while in office.
“We have wept and prayed together and tried to make sense of the senseless. It never gets easier. Today, though, feels particularly painful,” the former mayor said.
Preston loved to learn, Lightfoot said, citing the master’s degree Preston had just finished at Loyola University of Chicago. The young woman had sought to understand what underlies crime, the former mayor added, calling on the city to coalesce around her death to fight violence.
Johnson, speaking at the first police funeral during his tenure as mayor, called Preston’s death an “unspeakable tragedy.” She devoted her life to “justice and peace,” Johnson said.
“The righteous perish,” said Johnson, citing Scripture. “But those who walk uprightly, they enter in their peace, and they find rest even in death.”
“As a city we have so much to do to restore hope and promise,” Johnson said. “Although we have much to do, I’m confident that Aréanah’s example is how we get at the root causes of violence in this city.”
Preston’s life shows the importance of doing the right thing, “even when it’s hard,” he added. “Though her watch has ended, her dedication to justice and her commitment to this city will live forever.”
Jashaya Turnage, a civilian who worked at the 5th District station with Preston, said the fallen officer was known as “Princess P” at the 5th because she would give everyone a hug as she arrived at the station. She was witty, funny and quick to jab with a smart comeback or say “I love you,” she said.
5th District Officer Jessica Scott recalled Preston’s huge personality. She was a bright light, more a friend than a co-worker, she said. “It still don’t even feel free,” the officer added.
As the service ended, officers stood at attention during a 21-gun salute and as a bugler played taps. Pallbearers folded the city flag draped over Preston’s casket. Johnson, Waller and former CPD interim Superintendent Eric Carter presented Preston’s mother with the flag.
Early May 6, three assailants jumped out of a sedan and ran toward Preston as she walked from her car to her home, according to Cook County prosecutors. Video footage cited by prosecutors shows a muzzle flash and Preston fall to the ground.
Four teens arrested two days after the fatal shooting are being held without bond. Prosecutors charged them with murder and several other felonies, including robbery and arson, alleging the group had earlier gone on a violent crime spree.
Preston was wearing her police uniform when she was attacked. The Chicago Police Department ruled her killing was a line-of-duty death, a decision that will entitle her family to greater financial support.
After the service, Carter said he knew Preston not just as an officer, but as a cheerleader on the team his daughter participated in and his wife coached who he helped mentor. Preston had recently been all but accepted to the Federal Bureau of Investigations’s academy, he said.
“We lost a light. We lost somebody very special,” said Carter, who resigned as interim police superintendent Monday.
Preston, fellow Officer Lesley Butler and three other officers spent much of their time together, FaceTiming everyday, planning trips and going out together often. They called their friend group the “Fab 5,” Butler said. The friends joked Preston would someday become Chicago’s first female police superintendent, she said.
“Even though she was little, she was big. And she had dreams,” Butler said.
