‘Our hearts ache’: Slain NC police officer remembered for dedication and selflessness
When Jason Nicholas Shuping received his last commendation as an officer for the Concord Police Department, his first reaction was that he did not deserve it.
That was the attitude that defined the young officer from Salisbury, said Rev. Richard Myers, who officiated Shuping’s funeral service Tuesday. The 25-year-old officer was shot and killed last week while responding to a carjacking call.
“Our hearts ache with his family today because we will miss him and his warm smile dearly,” Myers said.
Concord police Chief Gary Gacek said Shuping received the commendation after he investigated some burglaries at a mall and figured out the suspect was someone he had arrested the day before.
It was good, solid police work, Gacek said, but Shuping saw it as a team effort. The next day, Gacek said, there was a note wrapped around the commendation with a rubber band.
“Thank you, but I didn’t earn this,” Shuping’s note read. “Hold on to it for me until I have.”
Over 300 people attended the service at Cabarrus Arena and Events Center in Concord. A burial followed at Shiloh Reformed Church of Faith Cemetery.
Shuping had been with the department for a short period — less than two years — and had earned six commendations, which he held with pride, Gacek said.
Over three dozen officers in motorcycles led the hearse that carried Shuping’s casket to the arena, and police vehicles filled the parking lot.
Wreaths and blue and white flowers filled the stage, and a large Concord police badge hung at the podium. Across one wreath was a ribbon with Shuping’s unit number “#4434.” The number will be retired from the department, Gacek said.
Six uniformed Concord police officers carried and saluted the casket, which was draped with an American flag.
An ‘easy-to-talk-to personality’
Gacek said he knew Shuping was mature for his age and had the right qualities for a police officer when they first met.
For one thing, Shuping had a sense of humor and could take jokes as well as he dished them out, Gacek said. If someone close to Shuping wasn’t happy, he’d “annoy the heck out of them until they cracked a smile and loosened up.”
When Shuping was sworn in, someone played a prank on him and told him that it was customary to blow his whistle after reciting the oath of office, Gacek said. Upon reciting the oath, Shuping started to pull out his whistle with a “confused yet determined look” before someone stopped him.
However, that day was the start of Shuping answering his calling to be a law enforcement official and a public servant, Concord Mayor William Dusch said.
“From the beginning of his service we could tell he was truly dedicated to serving and protecting the community and his fellow officers,” he said.
A former Boy Scout, Shuping wanted to be the best police officer he could be, according to his obituary. He received his basic law enforcement training at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College where he was a top shooter in his class.
In his free time, Shuping volunteered with vacation Bible school at his church and enjoyed hunting and fishing trips and vacations with his family in Wilmington. He cheered for the Carolina Panthers and was an expert in roofing, flooring and landscaping.
“(He lit) up a room as he entered with his warm smile and an easy-to-talk-to personality,” said Myers, the pastor at Shiloh Reformed Church of Faith where Shuping was a member.
Shuping leaves behind his wife, Haylee, whom he married in a church under orange skies during Hurricane Florence in 2018, Myers said. Shuping also is survived by his parents, a brother, a sister, a half-sister and several in-laws.
He attended East Rowan High School and graduated magna cum laude from UNC-Pembroke in 2018. He was on the track team at both schools and studied criminal justice and sociology and terrorism studies.
“We may never be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice that Jason made, but we can strive to match his dedication and sense of duty,” Gacek said.
Another death in the line of service
The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. on Dec. 16 in the parking lot of the Sonic Drive-In near Bruton Smith Boulevard, Concord officials said last week.
Police say the incident began when a Concord officer and an on-duty state Alcohol Law Enforcement agent found a crashed vehicle near an exit of Interstate 85. After speaking to a citizen, police said officers found the suspect, 29-year-old Jeremy Maurice Daniels, at the parking lot.
Concord police said Daniels started shooting when the officers and the ALE agent approached him. Officials believe this was when Shuping and another officer, Kaleb Robinson, were shot. Robinson, 23, sustained minor injuries. He also had been with the department for less than two years.
Daniels was later shot and killed by officers, police said.
The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the incident. Three officers who were also on scene have been put on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting, officials said.
Shuping is the second police officer in the Charlotte area to die in the line of service this month. Mount Holly police Officer Tyler Herndon died after being shot while responding to a call on Dec. 11.
A 25-year-old Rowan County jail officer died days after a hit-and-run dump truck driver sideswiped her deputy’s car on I-85 in Charlotte as she headed home.
On Saturday, a Kings Mountain police officer was wounded in a gunfire exchange with a suspect.
At the end of Shuping’s service Tuesday, Concord police chaplain Lonnie Clouse described Shuping as a guardian as he invited the audience to pray for law enforcement officers.
“Even the best officers are facing scrutiny and unwarranted accusations for wearing a badge in this great country,” he said.
Gacek acknowledged that the past few days had been filled with grief but said the next few months may be even tougher.
”To my law enforcement brothers and sisters, take comfort in knowing that we that we have one more guardian angel watching over us.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 12:33 PM.
