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Officer Brian Shaw being remembered 1 year after being killed in line of duty

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — Saturday will mark one year since the New Kensington Police Department was changed forever.

Officer Brian Shaw was killed in the line of duty on Nov. 17, 2017.

“The closer it gets to tomorrow, the more that’s the main thought in the forefront of my mind,” said Chief Robert Deringer. “Even as the clock ticks, It’ll be taking me back to that day.”

It’s a night the police department won’t ever forget.

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“They pulled all the New Ken guys to the station, and that was difficult, because here it was, one of our brothers who was mortally wounded, and I called Chief Klein on the scene and that’s when he told me Brian didn’t make it,” he said.

Deringer was a detective at the time and later took over chief duties from Jim Klein, who had accepted a new job the day before Shaw was killed.

There is a reminder of Shaw on just about every wall and every shelf inside the police station.

“Coming up on the one-year anniversary, all the emotions are coming up again, and even though I think about him every day, as I’m sure the rest of the department does, tomorrow’s going to be even more difficult,” Deringer said.

Shaw had only been on the job for a few months. But Deringer says being a police officer was what he was called to do.

"He was what you would want in a police officer, and if I could have 27 of them, I'd never get complaints," Deringer said. "Because he went over and above helping people and treated everyone with respect and treated everyone the way they should be treated."

And that’s the legacy staying with everyone who knew him.

“I don’t want to let him down. I know he’s looking over us from where he’s at and I want to run the department that would’ve made him proud and would’ve made him want to stay here and retire from this place,” Deringer said.