Alexandria Police Department retirees gather with volunteers for the annual Charles Hill Park clean up March 22 in Del Ray.
Members of the Alexandria Police Department descended on Del Ray March 22 for the annual Charles W. Hill Park clean up in memory of Hill, the last APD officer to be killed in the line of duty.
“We’re here in memory of Charlie,” said retired APD detective Joe Morash. “It's so hard to think back on that day as it occurred but it’s good to see everybody back together.”
March 22, 1989, began as a routine workday for Hill and his family. A member of the Special Operations Team with the APD, Hill was home early playing with his two sons when he was called to respond to a hostage situation in Old Town. During the standoff Hill was fatally shot, becoming the last APD officer to be killed in the line of duty.
Thirty-seven years later, members of the law enforcement community turned out for the annual clean up and beautification of the Del Ray Park named in Hill’s memory.
“There are a lot of new guys here that didn’t even know Charlie,” Morash said. “That is a real testament to him and everyone that came after him.”
A 13-year-member of the Alexandria police force, Hill was killed when 34-year-old Jamie Wise had taken several hostages in the 300 block of Hopkins Court to collect on a drug debt.
After a five-hour standoff, Wise emerged with a sawed-off shotgun pointed at the head of a teenage hostage. A police sharpshooter shot Wise but not before he was able to fire off two rounds. One fatally wounded Hill and the other severely injured Hill's partner, officer Andrew Chelchowski.
Just one month earlier, Hill celebrated his 40th birthday. In 1993, Chelchowski, Hill’s partner that day, died of suicide after suffering from PTSD from the incident four years earlier.
“We are here to remember Andy as well,” Morash said. “I think Charlie would have liked having everybody together here in his honor.”
“There are a lot of new guys here that didn’t even know Charlie. That is a real testament to him and everyone that came after him.”
— Retired APD detective Joe Morash