WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) – As many as 600 mourners, including Mayor Michael J. Jarjura, said farewell Saturday to a retired state trooper who police say fatally shot himself after killing his estranged wife and seriously wounding her lawyer in an attack outside Middlesex Superior Court in Middletown last week.

Friends, family and police officers lined up at a Waterbury funeral home to pay their respects to Michael Bochicchio Jr., who was represented in collages and enlarged photos, including a wedding picture of him and his wife, and photos of the couple’s two children, a 12-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy who now live with their mother’s parents.

Bochicchio, 47, fatally shot his estranged wife, Donna, 42, on Wednesday in a parking garage adjacent to the courthouse, police said. Bochicchio sued for divorce in 2003, beginning a two-year battle over money and custody of their children. Julie Porzio, Donna Bochicchio’s lawyer, remains in Hartford Hospital.

Many mourners put aside their anger or confusion, said Bochicchio’s mother, Helen Bochicchio.

“It’s unexplainable what happened,” she said. “It’s so hard to understand, because they were both such wonderful, amazing people.”

“It’s something terrible that’s happened that’s just too horrible to say,” she said.

Bochicchio’s state police shield was leaned against a black ceramic bible, and mourners – including his parents and the Bochicchios’ two children – waiting to pay their respects looked at family photos, signed a guest book and kneeled to pray.

On the table was a framed poem written by the couple’s daughter when she was younger. It was to her father at Christmas, and said he was a great father and how she loved him.

John Paternostro, assistant director of the funeral service, said the large police turnout was not surprising because of Bochicchio’s service in the state police. He retired in 1998 after 21 years as a trooper.

“The family has such a background of law enforcement, with the father and the uncles being policemen as well,” he said. “It was good to see people come out and pay their respects.”

Bochicchio’s remains were cremated on Saturday.

A funeral for Donna Bochicchio is scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Torrington. Burial will follow at Hillside Cemetery.

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Information from: Waterbury Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com/

The Register Citizen, http://www.ctcentral.com

AP-ES-06-18-05 2215EDT