Soon, mourners lined up to place bouquets on the sidewalk in front of a vacant house where Nazario, 40, spent her final moments. Candles, teddy bears and balloons were also placed at the memorial.
"She was a very, very good officer in a very high-profile unit with highly motivated officers," said Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who attended the vigil. He said the event was a way to bring closure, or at least begin the healing process.
Nazario, a single mother who lived with her daughter, Jazmin, 13, had joined the Police Department because she wanted to do something good for the community, friends said.
Twelve years ago, she was assigned to the Narcotics Strike Force. Under Ramsey's reorganization, the force was recently divided into the North and South Strike Forces, with a mission to control drug traffic, robberies and illegal weapons.
Nazario, a graduate of Olney High School, was in the South Strike Force. She and her partner, Terry Tull, a 12-year police veteran and the driver of their vehicle, were broadsided and trapped in their crushed cruiser for more than an hour after the 9:30 p.m. accident.
Andre Butler, 16, is in custody, charged with third-degree murder and will be tried as an adult.
Tull, nicknamed "Spiderman" by friends, was upgraded to stable condition yesterday. Police spokeswoman Tonya Little said he was "in high spirits and receiving a stream of visitors." He suffered fractured ribs and a broken hip in the accident.
Officer Alex Cricelli, who works in the Strike Force South unit, said Tull was a comic-book collector, and, with his two young sons, was a big fan of Spiderman. Cricelli described Tull as a professional who "gets the job done and a great guy to joke around with."
