Slain Indiana officer remembered as focused on police work

1of20In this photo provided by the Indiana State Police, Elwood, Indiana, police Officer Noah Shahnavaz is pictured in an undated photo. Shahnavaz was fatally shot Sunday, July 31, 2022, during a traffic stop. (Courtesy of Indiana State Police via AP)

7of20From left, Holly Jones, Leah Jones, 13, Olivia Jones, 9, and Jack Trant, 14, stand near Brooks School Road and Campus Parkway as the funeral procession for 24-year-old Elwood Police Officer Noah Shahnavaz passes by on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022, in Fishers, Ind. "I want my girls to understand that freedom's not free and we live in a society where we're blessed to have those kinds of freedoms," Holly said, as Jones and her family attend ITOWN Church where the funeral was held. (Jenna Watson/The Indianapolis Star via AP)Jenna Watson/AP

10of20Linda Kay stands with a flag near Brooks School Road and Campus Parkway as the funeral procession for 24-year-old Elwood Police Officer Noah Shahnavaz passes by on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022, in Fishers, Ind. Kay lives in Noblesville but her father grew up in Elwood, Ind., and she said the officer's killing hit close to home. "It's emotional seeing the outpouring and so many coming from so far for a community as small as Elwood," Kay said. (Jenna Watson/The Indianapolis Star via AP)Jenna Watson/AP

19of20The funeral procession for 24-year-old Elwood Police Officer Noah Shahnavaz passes through Fishers, Ind., on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The young Indiana police officer who was killed during an early morning traffic stop was remembered Saturday as a man focused on a career in law enforcement. (Jenna Watson/The Indianapolis Star via AP)Jenna Watson/AP

FISHERS, Ind. (AP) — A young Indiana police officer who was killed during an early morning traffic stop was remembered Saturday as a man focused on a career in law enforcement.

Noah Shahnavaz, 24, an officer with the Elwood Police Department 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, was shot in the head just after 2 a.m. July 31, before he could even get out of his patrol car.

“Noah destroyed any barriers that got in his way," his mother, Laurie Shahnavaz, said in her eulogy. "He was singularly focused on becoming a police officer and finally achieved that dream in 2021.”

Dozens of law enforcement officers were among the more than 1,300 people who attended the officer's funeral at ITOWN Church in the officer's suburban Indianapolis hometown of Fishers, with some going to an overflow room, WRTV-TV reported.

Following the funeral, a procession carried Shahnavaz's body past the Elwood Police Department headquarters en route to the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Shahnavaz served in the U.S. Army for five years and was an Elwood police officer for 11 months before his slaying.

State police arrested the accused gunman, Carl Boards II of Anderson, about 30 minutes after the killing. He has been charged with murder, resisting law enforcement and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

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