ARLINGTON, Va., July 31 -- Capitol Police officer Jacob Chestnut has been buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, one week after he and another officer were shot to death during a gunfight in the Capitol building.
Chestnut was an Air Force veteran of Vietnam. An Air Force honor guard escorted the casket, and he received a 21-gun salute before the casket was lowered into Grave 2764-A in Section 4, surrounded mostly by World War I veterans and marked with a Latin cross.
His widow, Wendy Wenling Chestnut, received the flag from the casket after it was folded like a triangle cockade from Revolutionary War hats.
By the end of the ceremony, the dark blue casket was covered with flowers, and Capitol Police were visibly crying and hugging each other. Chestnut's grave is unusually deep so that his wife can one day be buried above him.
Chestnut and officer John Gibson were killed Friday, when Russell Weston Jr. allegedly went on a shooting rampage in the Capitol. Gibson was buried Thursday at Arlington.
The 15-mile-long funeral procession took about two hours to make its way from Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, Md., and past the Capitol building, where crowds gathered to watch the procession move toward the cemetery.
Inside the Capitol, police paid a silent tribute to Chestnut and Gibson. Capitol Police Chief Gary Albrecht called the gathering at the scene of the shootout for a 13-second moment of silence.
The 3,000-seat sanctuary at Ebenezer Church was packed for the service, and hundreds more stood outside for the music-filled 2 1/2 hour service.
Chestnut's daughter, Karen, told the congregation her father wasn't a perfectionist, but he did everything perfectly. She said, 'The first word that comes to mind when I think of daddy is loving, followed by blessed, generous and honorable.'
His brother, Henry, remembered him as a role model, saying, 'They call him a hero here, but he's always been my hero.'
Pastor Jack Marcom Jr. of Fort Washington Baptist Church delivered the eulogy, telling the congregation that Chestnut 'has a message for us today: that there is a basic concept that all of us need to learn, an ideal of respect and care for other people.'
Families of both victims attended Chestnut's funeral and burial, as they did Thursday for Gibson's.
Chestnut was shot just inside the entrance to the Capitol last Friday. Gibson was killed as he exchanged fire with the gunman.
Russell Weston Jr. has been arrested in connection with the shooting. He is recovering from gunshot wounds in D.C. General Hospital, where he has undergone several surgeries.
Weston has been charged with killing the two federal law enforcement officials, charges that could carry the death penalty.
