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Alabama community honors fallen Officer with roots on the First Coast

Mobile Police officer Sean Tuder was shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant at an apartment complex in Mobile.

MOBILE, Ala. — Mourners lined the streets of Mobile, Ala to pay their respects to fallen Police Officer Sean Tuder, a man with roots on the First Coast.

Flags, signs, salutes and tears accompanied the raw emotion of complete strangers bound by their community and their loss.

Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey ordered all flags fly at half-staff through Sunday in honor of Ofc. Sean Tuder.

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Miles of streets were lined by people both young and old as they watched Tuder's final escort. Tuder was shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant at an apartment complex in Mobile.

Also in attendance was Gerald Young and his family.

Young retired after 31 years on the force from the Saraland, Alabama Police Department –  city of about 13,000 people just north of Mobile.

“I know how it is out there," he said. "One minute it’s fine and the next things like this happen.”

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Tuder, whose law enforcement career moved him from the First Coast to the Port City, joined the Mobile Police Department in 2016.

He was a rising star and was pictured with an officer of the month trophy, shaking hands with current Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson.

Young said watching with thousands of others pressed shoulder to shoulder was a moving experience.

“Sometimes you can’t hold the tears back because you see the citizens turn out," he said.

He added the miles of lined streets were, in his words, “remarkable.”

Young said there’s a brotherhood among officers, a code, a mission played out every day.

“We’re going to take care of you and make sure you’re safe and that’s what officer Tuder did,” Young said.

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