MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Several thousand police officers on bicycles, motorcycles, horses and on foot marched more than three miles through downtown Manchester on Saturday to honor a fallen comrade – “a hero who would rush into burning buildings” – who was shot to death in the city this week.

They came from throughout the region for the funeral of Officer Michael Briggs, killed while on bicycle patrol early Monday. His bike, mounted on a Manchester cruiser, was in the procession, as was a riderless horse, the traditional symbol for a fallen officer.

Briggs’s flag-draped coffin rested at home plate in Merchantsauto.com Stadium, home of the minor league baseball team he and his young sons often watched. About 4,000 officers and several hundred members of the public filled the stands as color guards from many agencies lined the outfield and his Manchester colleagues filled the infield.

Twin Cities officers were well-represented at the funeral. Three Auburn officers, Lt. Richard Caron, Lt. Jim Robichaud and Officer Bud Caouet, made the drive with a city cruiser and a motorcycle.

The Lewiston police sent eight representatives – officers Carly Conley, Matthew Vierling, Eric Syphers, Joe Brown, Joseph Philippon, Jason Nadeau, Ryan Guay and Jeffrey Belanger. Conley said they brought two cruisers and a motorcycle with them.

“It was unbelievable how many officers showed up,” she said. “It was pretty amazing to see,”

Speaking of Briggs, the Rev. James Young of New Rye Union Congregational Church in Epsom, where the officer grew up, said, “Lord, this hero has fallen – a hero who would rush into burning buildings, a hero, Lord, who gave himself for us,”

Briggs won heroism awards last year for saving residents of a burning Manchester apartment building.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, who met Briggs at one of the heroism ceremonies, praised the officer and decried the violence that killed him.

“We are united in grief and, yes, in anger at this senseless crime,” Lynch said, declaring “We have been violated as a state and as a people.”

Briggs’ partner the night he was shot, Officer John Breckinridge, praised his friend as “the kind of guy that all of us want to be and don’t quite get there.”

He recounted how Briggs spoke to people on the street – folks that Breckenridge would have dismissed – earning respect by treating people with respect and dignity.

Breckinridge told how on their final patrol on Monday, after responding to a domestic violence call in which shots were fired, he and Briggs were about to head back to the station, when Briggs suggested they check one more thing. They had 15 minutes left in their shift.

“Mike did what he did best. He was a smart and aggressive cop,” Breckinridge said.

“‘Come on John, let’s go,’ and we went,” Breckinridge said.

That’s when Briggs encountered his killer.

“In a blink of an eye Officer (Nate) Lindstad (another partner) and I lost a partner and a friend. We all lost a part of ourselves.”

Briggs, 35, was shot in the head in a dark alley. He died the next day.

Michael Addison, 26, of Manchester, is charged with capital murder.

Two of Briggs’ pallbearers were officers from Epsom, where Briggs was a part-time officer nine years ago when Officer Jeremy Charron was killed while checking a suspicious car. He was the last New Hampshire officer killed on duty, and Briggs was one of his pallbearers.

Former Epsom Police Chief Roger Amadon, who hired both men in the small town, was moved to tears evoking Charron’s memory while eulogizing Briggs.

“Together, they will patrol the streets of heaven to keep them eternally safe,” he said.

Amid the tears, there were light moments, as when Tracie Davison, one of Briggs’ three sisters, spoke of Briggs’ attempts to ride a motorcycle.

It was on vacation at York Beach, Maine, where he took a motorcycle for a short ride, even though he hadn’t been on one for a long time.

“He ended up in some bushes, in some trash cans, and walked the motorcycle all the way back to the cottage,” prompting years of ribbing, she said.

“He had not ridden a motorcycle since and we were glad he decided to pedal a bike instead,” she said.

With temperatures in the 40s, EMTs handed out blankets and handwarmers to some in the stands. An officer brought a leather police jacket to Briggs’ 11-year-old son, Brian, who was wearing one of his dad’s short-sleeved bicycle uniform shirts.

Many residents stood along the procession route that took Briggs’ coffin by City Hall; the Hillsborough County Jail, where he once was a corrections officer; and by Manchester police headquarters, which is named after Officer Ralph Miller, the last Manchester officer killed in the line of duty – 30 years ago this month.

Among the several hundred shivering in the stadium were about 30 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and their leaders from Manchester.

“We felt that it was kind of our duty to be part of it and be part of the city as a community joined together for a tribute to somebody who protects us everyday,” said Assistant Scoutmaster Doug Williams.

Nine-year-old Cub Scout Alex Yatzus said he was there to say thanks.

“I know that Michael did a lot of good things for people and I just wanted to thank him here,” he said.

Staff writer Scott Taylor contributed to this report.