Fallen Capitol Police officer William “Billy” Evans was honored in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, the same building he died protecting two weeks ago. Evans was killed when 25-year-old Noah Green rammed his car into a barricade then lunged at officers with a knife. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer remembered Evans as a prankster and “the one you’d want to be stationed with on a lazy summer day at the north barricade.” He said Evans’ life mission could be summed up in four words: “How can I help?”
President Joe Biden turned to Evans’ wife and two young children, Logan and Abigail, and said: “The time is going to come, I promise you, it’s not believable now, when a memory, a fragrance, a scene, a circumstance... when you have that memory and you smile before you bring a tear to your eyes.” As Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Evans’ children that “so many now know about your dad and know that he is a hero,” Biden swooped in to pick up a soft toy that Abigail dropped. “Greater compliment [does] no one have than the president of the United States looking after your toys,” Pelosi added. Evans is the second Capitol cop to lie in state this year after Officer Brian Sicknick.