WOOD RIVER, Ill. — Family, friends and colleagues of a fallen police officer circled around a new street sign to honor his life on Thursday.
Officer Tyler Timmins was 36 years old when he was shot and killed on Oct. 26, 2021, while approaching the suspect of a stolen vehicle at a Speedway gas station in Pontoon Beach.
In his honor, officials have changed Old Alton Edwardsville Road to Tyler Timmins Drive in Wood River, Illinois.
Timmins’ widow, daughter and parents were glad to lean on the greater community for support.
"It's fantastic. I mean being a part of a community that doesn't forget people who put their everything into their lives and into their community is really fantastic,” said Linsey Timmins, Tyler’s widow. "There is nothing that I would want more than for my husband to continue being honored and memorialized."
"You could call on Tyler, it didn't matter day or night, he was always there," said Vance Wilhelm, a close friend and president of the Tyler Timmins Memorial Foundation.
As drivers pass by the new sign, local leaders want it to be a stark reminder of the risk that first responders take every day as they leave their homes to protect the community.
"Hope that we as a society will always strive to improve our communities just like Officer Timmins. Hope that we will always hold in high regard the men and women who risk their very lives for our protection," Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said.
The man who killed Timmins was sentenced to life in prison last April after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
“The accountability is there but I think just being understanding of everybody's situation. Not just a common civilian but law enforcement as well. Every law enforcement officer has a family,” Linsey said.
Timmins grew up on Willow and Ash streets in the city of Wood River and graduated from East Alton Wood River High School in 2003.
He started his law enforcement career as a cadet with the Wood River Police Department and later worked for the Roxana, Worden, Hartford, and Pontoon Beach police departments.
The Wood River Police Department will add Timmins' name to a new memorial they are putting up.
Additionally, the Tyler Timmins Memorial Foundation has created a scholarship in his name at his alma mater Lewis and Clark Community College.
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