Emotional goodbye

Photo: CTV

Fredericton police Const. Robb Costello, left, and Const. Sara Burns, right, were remembered at a service today.

UPDATED 12:08 p.m.

An emotional afternoon for the city of Fredericton is winding to a close after a regimental funeral was held for two slain officers.

Thousands of police officers and first responders filled the Aitken Centre at the University of New Brunswick for the funeral, where Constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns were honoured just over a week after they were gunned down in the line of duty.

Several dignitaries attended the funeral, including the lieutenant-governor Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau, Premier Brian Gallant and Fredericton Mayor Mike O'Brien.

At the end of the service, officers lifted the Canadian flags off of Costello's and Burns's caskets and carefully folded them to present to their families, along with their police hats.

Attendees watched on in silence as pallbearers carried the caskets out of the stadium.

Thousands of police officers and other first responders from across North America are in Fredericton today for the funeral of two police officers who were gunned down last week with two civilians in the parking lot of a city apartment complex.

Fredericton Police constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns died along with Bobbie Lee Wright and Donnie Robichaud.

About 4,000 people are expected to fill the Aitken Centre on the campus of the University of New Brunswick for a funeral service that isn't open to the public.

The service, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. AT, is being streamed to other locations in the city and will be broadcast live across the country.

A procession will begin at noon AT, from Fredericton High School and will travel along a few streets before reaching the university.

Forty-eight-year-old Matthew Vincent Raymond has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and is set to appear in court on Aug. 27.

The lives of the other two victims of the shooting were also honoured this week by their families and friends.

A public visitation was held Wednesday evening for Wright at a funeral home near Woodstock, N.B., although her obituary said there would be no funeral service by request and her internment would be held at a later date.

Similarly, no funeral was held for Robichaud.

His widow Melissa Robichaud, told The Canadian Press that he had requested to be cremated and that she planned to scatter his ashes Thursday evening along a strip of road the avid motorcyclist had often biked along.

On Friday a judge lifted a publication ban that had been imposed last Monday on court documents revealing details on how the deadly attack unfolded.

The ban came hours after several media outlets had already reported on what they contained.

The newly released documents say the alleged gunman was wounded as he allegedly engaged another officer from his apartment window.