The Myrtle Beach Police Department marked the six-year anniversary of the death of Patrolman First Class Joe McGarry on Monday.
A memorial was held 5:30 p.m. Monday evening at the Ted C. Collins Law Enforcement Center at 111 Oak Street.
News 13, spoke with the fallen officer's parents who said that the fact people still remember him six years later means the world to them.
"Six years, to a lot of people, is a long time, but to Joe and I it's just like yesterday," said Joe McGarry's mother, Anita McGarry. "He was a good boy, never in any trouble, and I told him everyday when I saw him, how much I loved him," said his father, Joe McGarry.
Investigators say McGarry was shot and killed by Luzenski Cottrell as McGarry questioned him in a parking lot off Kings Highway on Dec. 29, 2002.
A jury convicted Cottrell and sentenced him to death for the crime in April of 2005. The state Supreme Court overturned the conviction against Cottrell in January 2008. Solicitor Greg Hembree plans to try Cottrell once again and seek the death penalty.
During the memorial ceremony, mourners were reminded to remember some of the good that has come out of this annual remembrance. They specifically pointed to a scholarship fund that is set up at Coastal Carolina University to benefit children of officers, and Joe McGarry's father presented a $1,000 check in remembrance of his son.
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