THE Mount Sinai Deliverance Ministries at Haslington, East Coast of Demerara was yesterday afternoon packed to capacity as scores of ECD residents, police officers of all ranks dressed in ceremonial uniform, relatives and other sympathizers gathered to bid farewell to fallen Police Detective Corporal, Silburn Mortimer Elias.So packed was the church building and compound that persons who turned out to bid their final respects to an officer they deemed a gentleman and a friend were forced to stand on the roadway, snarling vehicular traffic and causing many vehicles to wend their way through adjoining streets.

This valiant police officer was shot last week Monday while attempting to wrestle a service revolver from the hands of a prisoner, 23-year-old Delon Abrams, who had earlier escaped from a police constable after disarming that rank at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he had been taken to seek medical attention for injuries he had received from an angry Sophia crowd that had allegedly apprehended him in a burglary.

Abrams was, however, recaptured and has since been placed before the courts, charged with the murder of the police officer.

Milling in the overflowing throng were Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell, ‘A’ Division Commander George Vyphuis, and C Division Commander Christopher Griffith.

Yesterday’s atmosphere was palpably emotional, and tears flowed unabashedly down the faces of police personnel and civilians alike. At one point it also became difficult for the senior police officers to restrain their emotions as they bid farewell to a fearless colleague who had literally gone down fighting.

Among the activities which marked Corporal Elias’s send-off were an abundance of tributes, scripture readings, singing of hymns, saying of prayers, and the ceremony which was done by Pastor Kwame Elias.

The late Police Detective Corporal Silburn Mortimer Elias was interred at the Haslington Cemetery. He leaves to mourn his grieving two children, wife and other relatives and friends.