The all out war on cops continues with the heartbreaking murder of a seven-year veteran of the police force in South Carolina. We’ve provided the links to two GO FUND ME pages if you’d like to donate to the Alia family.Officer Alia leaves behind a wife and a newborn son. Please don’t forget to pray for Officer Alia’s family, friends and coworkers at this very difficult time.
Forest Acres Police Chief Gene Sealy says one of his officers was killed Wednesday morning during a struggle with a suspect at an area mall.
Sealy confirmed at a noon news conference that 32-year-old Greg Alia, a seven-year veteran of the police force, had died.
“Our hearts are broken,” Sealy said. “Forest Acres is a small community, small police department. We’re one big family.”
Sealy said Alia and other officers were responding to a call just before 8 a.m. of a suspicious person in the parking lot of the Richland Mall. When officers arrived, they found 34-year-old Jarvis Hall, who they reported ran away from them and near the mall.
Alia eventually confronted Hall near the Barnes and Noble bookstore, and the two began to struggle. The suspect then pulled out a gun, Sealy said, and shot Alia.
The other officers were able to subdue Hall and take him into custody. Hall had previously been arrested by Columbia Police back in August on a misdemeanor charge of failure to comply.
Alia was married and had a newborn son. He grew up in the area, Sealy said, and his parents live in Forest Acres, the city where he worked. Sealy said Alia was a graduate of Richland Northeast High School and the University of South Carolina, and had always wanted to be a police officer.
“He was an outstanding young man, he was an outstanding police officer,” Sealy said. “He was a role model for our new police officers.”
In fact, Sealy said Alia was training a new police officer when the shooting took place.
Flags outside the department were lowered to half-staff.
HOW TO DONATE TO HELP FALLEN OFFICER GREG ALIA:
You can help the family of the Forest Acres Police Officer who died in the line of duty through a series of accounts that have been created.
Officer Greg Alia, 32, was killed Wednesday morning in a confrontation with a suspect at the Richland Mall. Alia, a seven-year veteran of the police department, leaves behind a wife and a newborn son.
The Forest Acres Merchants Association has created a Go Fund Me page for Alia, which you can donate to be going here: https://www.gofundme.com/5q5b6v9s You can also give to the fund by going to the NBSC Bank on Forest Drive, or any location in Columbia. You would just need to specify that the donation is for the Alia family.
“We are establishing a fund to help the family during this trying time. We want to make sure their needs are taken care of,” said Drew Hampton, the Merchant Association’s Vice President, and the operator of Groucho’s on Forest Drive.
In addition to those two ways to help, there’s also been an additional Go Fund Me created by friends of the family, which can be accessed here: https://www.gofundme.com/gregaliamemorial
