Coast mourns as joint funeral is held for fallen officers ‘taken way too soon’
The magnitude of the tragedy in the small city of Bay St Louis was seen on the faces of those who stood in line Wednesday to pay their respects to one fallen police officer — and then another.
The double funeral was held at the community center four days before Christmas and a week after Officer Branden Estorffe, 23, and Sgt. Steven Robin, 34, died in a shoot-out in the Motel 6 parking lot on U.S. 90 in Bay St. Louis while responding to a welfare call.
Law enforcement officers from across the region and the country arrived in Bay St. Louis, in solidarity and to remember and honor the fallen officers.
Every chair in the room was taken and people were standing around the sides and back of the room. Many of them were law enforcement officers who know the risk police take each day. Still more mourners waited outside.
“Today we pay tribute to two brave law enforcement officers whose watch has ended and who were taken from us way too soon,” said Gov Tate Reeves. Besides honoring them as police officers, he said, they were sons, brothers, a father, a husband, boyfriend and “two unbelievably good men.”
After an hour-long cemetery, their flag-draped caskets were taken from the service as bagpipes played and the procession to the cemetery began.
Sgt. Robin remembered
Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz eulogized Sgt. Robin, the youngest of three brothers who grew up as an Army brat and eventually returned to his roots in the Chalmette and Bay St Louis area.
He met his wife, Amy, at Walmart and they married in 2009. Robin loved all things Disney, he said.
Schwartz said Robin’s father told him the first thing to learn about leadership is to get to know the men and women working with you, and he did just that, Schwartz said.
He recently was honored for apprehending three burglars as they were leaving a public building, he said.
At the end, Schwartz said, Robin knew “he had to get a little girl out of a dire situation.” An 8-year old girl was in the vehicle when Amy Brogdon Anderson, 43, shot and killed the police officers and was shot in return fire, officials have reported.
Officer Estorffe remembered
State Rep. Brent Anderson, a family friend who served with Estorffe’s father, Ian Estorffe, gave the eulogy for the young officer.
“Branden’s life was filled with police officers,” Anderson said, many of whom were in the room at the service.
He was a cook at a local casino growing up, he said, but he had bigger plans.
“The blue had already burned in his eyes,” he said.
When he graduated the police academy, Anderson gave him a pen, as someone did when he graduated, Anderson said.
“Be aware of the authority you have,” Anderson said he told Estorffe and how he could mess up someone’s life with it.
Estorffe said he was not there to write tickets but to catch bad guys.
He won the top shot award at the academy and last week he tried out for the Hancock’s Special Response Team, Anderson said. His acceptance just came through, “which is exceptional for a 23-year-old man,” Anderson said.
He could have run or hidden behind his car when Robin was shot at the scene, Anderson said, but he took on the fight. “He did what he was raised to do. He did what he was trained to do. He did what he lived to do.”
Final salute
When the services concluded, the most emotional part of the day began as a law enforcement procession escorted the officers to Gardens of Memory Cemetery for graveside services.
People saluted the officers and their sacrifices as the two caskets were driven along the beach and onto U.S. 90 as law enforcement officers followed in final tribute.
Lights flashing and sirens blaring announcing the arrival of the procession.
About 500 people stood solemnly as the caskets were carried to the site. The ever-jarring 21 gun salute was followed by the playing of “Taps” and the equally soulful sounds of “Amazing Grace.”
Tears flowed as the ceremony ended with The Final Call” as the dispatcher made a radio call-out to Sgt. Steven Robin and Officer Branden Estorffe, with no response.
“May they never be forgotten,” the dispatcher said.
This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 2:02 PM.
