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A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church, 121 Main St., Danbury.
Area residents may experience delays and/or road closures on Friday morning as the officers assemble at Kenosia Park and are bused to downtown Danbury for the Funeral Mass.
Related story: Funeral Services Set For Drew Carlson, 38, Danbury Police Officer
Drew Frederick Carlson, a New Fairfield resident, was a 13-year veteran of the Danbury police force.
He died after he barricaded himself in a hotel in Southbury. His death, of a gunshot wound to the head, was ruled a suicide, according to the chief medical examiner's office.
In 2002, Carlson graduated from the Connecticut Police Academy. After performing security officer duties at Danbury Hospital, he began his law enforcement career in New Fairfield and then moved to Danbury in 2004.
As he worked his way up through the ranks, Carlson became a skilled field training officer and mentor to new members. He understood the rigors of being a novice in the police department and often worked through holidays and took on double shifts so that more junior officers could spend time with their families, according to his obituary.
In 2016, Carlson was promoted to sergeant. He received a Meritorious Citation in 2014 and in 2016 received a life-saving medal.
His death was mourned by first responders in Danbury.
"Our thoughts and prayers for the Danbury PD and the family of our lost Police Officer," Mayor Mark Boughton said.
Carlson was born in Danbury on May 25, 1979. He attended St. Peter School and Henry Abbott Technical High School, where he excelled in sports, including basketball and baseball, and graduated in 1997.
He transferred his love of sports into a lifelong passion for the Mets, and there was nothing he enjoyed more than taking his family to Citi Field for an afternoon game.
Carlson is survived by his wife of 14 years, Erin Cullen Carlson; his children Kayla, Taylor and Tyler; his parents, Lynn and Wayne Carlson; sister Kristina Carlson and her partner Alan Roberts; brother Scott Carlson; and many other relatives.
All out-of-town uniformed police and public safety personnel who are attending the funeral are asked to assemble at Kenosia Park, 18 Christopher Columbus Ave., Danbury, by 9 a.m. to board buses that will transport them to St. Peter Church.
There will be personnel at the park to assist with parking.
The buses are scheduled to leave the park at 9:30 a.m.
Burial at St. Peter’s Cemetery on Kenosia Avenue will immediately follow the funeral Mass.
Buses will transport out-of-town uniformed personnel back to Kenosia Park immediately following the burial service.
"On behalf of Sergeant Carlson’s family and his extended family at the Danbury Police Department, we thank you for your show of support and ask that you continue to keep us all in your thoughts and prayers," the Danbury Police Department said in a Facebook post.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project.
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