# A Bristol Tennessee Police Officer Dies in the Line of Duty.



## Gil

*Re: A Bristol Tennessee Police Officer Dies in the Line of D*

A Bristol Tennessee Police Officer Dies in the Line of Duty.
Brian Mills
News Channel 11
Nov 28, 4:42 PM EST

Parishners at Kingsport's Salvation Army try to comfort Captain Steve Terry over the death of officer Mark Vance.

"He just loved police work and I knew him for many years", says Steve Terry.

Terry retired several years ago from Bristol P.D. to serve a higher calling, he remembers Vance, who was a former marine, as a man who made a difference in so many lives.

"Mark will always be remembered as a good young officer and a motivated person always wanted to help people and to help in this community, says Steve Terry."

It was with this compassion for others that Vance answered last night's domestic violence call. But a gunshot to his head ended any chance of a peaceful outcome. Police say Nickolus Johnson shot Vance at point blank range.

" Now while Bristol P.D. is devastated by the loss of one of their own, neighbors tell me they too are in disbelief over what happened here last night", says Reporter Brian Mills.

" Here we are in a nice neighborhood just living our daily lives for something like this to happen across the street it is a shock", says John Arrants a neighbor.

Police officers say responding to a domestic violence call is considered by many to be one of the most dangerous calls to make.

" We just never had anything like that happen here and it's just heartbreaking", says Irma McReynolds a neighbor.

Last night's shooting tragically proves just how dangerous a police officers job can sometimes be.

http://www.wjhl.com/servlet/Satelli...amp;cid=1031779393511&amp;path=Variables.path

Posted Fri Dec 03 2004, 09:53:

Officer: "We're all one family"
BY MATTHEW LAKIN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Dec 3, 12:00 AM EST

With hundreds of fellow officers saluting, Bristol Tennessee Police Officer Mark Vance is carried from the hearse at the cemetary in Abingdon VA Thursday afternoon. Vance was shot and killed while responding to a call Saturday night.

BRISTOL, Tenn. - The police officers came from everywhere Thursday - whether close to home or far away.

Some knew Mark Vance as a friend and brother officer. Others never even met him.

Officers Mike Carroll and Shane Hollingsworth came 575 miles to show their respect.

As members of their police department's honor guard in Kendallville, Ind., they see more than their share of officers buried. Neither knew Vance, but that didn't make it any easier.

"You feel the same pain," Carroll said. "It's weird, but you do."

The trip was worth it for both.

"He was part of the brotherhood," Hollingsworth said. "We're all one family."

Mike Yaniero, the city's former deputy police chief, left his new post as police chief in Jacksonville, N.C., to attend the services. He knew Vance as an officer who stood out for his quiet dedication.

"He had a certain amount of gentleness that's rare," Yaniero said. "It makes a police officer really compassionate."

Nearly all of Vance's fellow Bristol officers made it to the service, with Tennessee state troopers, Sullivan County sheriff's deputies and police officers from Kingsport and Jonesborough filling in for them.

City police Officer Dennis Ley worked with Vance on the night shift. He and other officers spent the afternoon gluing decals with Vance's name and badge number to their rear windshields.

They plan to sell the decals to raise money for his family.

"It's just a way to make sure he's never forgotten," Ley said.

A busload of nearly 40 students from the police academy at Walters State Community College in Morristown came to view the ceremony - just a few days before their graduation.

"It's out of respect," said Bill Gorman, the academy's assistant director and a former Massachusetts State Police detective. "It also brings a sense of reality to them about the dangers of police work."

For Gorman, who remembers Vance as a student, it was different.

"This is a little bit tougher when it's a guy you've trained," Gorman said. "We tell them when they train with us, our fingerprints are all over them. When you lose one, you lose a piece of yourself."

The sight made the students grieve. But it didn't turn them away from the life they've chosen.

Mike McCoy, a member of the class, started work as a Bristol officer in September. He had just gotten to know Vance when the officer was killed.

"This hasn't changed my mind," McCoy said. "Not everybody can do this kind of work. It's just something that you're called to do.

"This just makes me remember that he didn't die in vain."

[email protected] | (276) 645-2558
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