Thousands of law enforcement officers from throughout the West were expected in southwestern Idaho on Tuesday for the funeral of slain Idaho State Police trooper Linda Huff.
Huff, 33, was shot 10 times in a still-unexplained exchange of gunfire with her assailant late Wednesday night in the parking lot of the State Police district office in Coeur d'Alene.Police believe Huff may have accidentally interrupted an auto burglary. They found one car in the parking lot with an unaccounted for broken window.
The mother of three was the first female law enforcement officer in Idaho to be shot and killed in the line of duty and the first state trooper to shot to death in 63 years.
Scott David Yager, 34, of Rathdrum, has been charged with first-degree murder and faces a possible death sentence if convicted.
Idaho Department of Law Enforcement officials expected between 500 and 700 law enforcement vehicles to join the cortege following the late morning funeral at the 8,000-seat Idaho Center in Nampa.
Flags remained at half-staff in memory of Huff, who had been on the force for two years after six with the Payette County Sheriff's Department.
Gov. Pill Batt canceled his monthly summit with the state's tribal leaders to attend the funeral.
It was the second southwestern Idaho funeral for a slain officer. Boise Police Officer Mark Stall, 29, was killed last September in a late night shootout with two brothers who were also killed in the exchange.
Yager remained hospitalized in fair condition, suffering from throat and shoulder wounds Huff inflicted with her service revolver.
Authorities said the autopsy showed her fatal wound was from a bullet fired at essentially point-blank range into her forehead.
Investigators have still not provided a motive for the killing. Yager's throat wound has made communication with him difficult.
A memorial service in northern Idaho is set for Monday at Lake City High School in Coeur d'Alene.