WOBURN – For 14 years and counting, a Massachusetts community has come together to remember a fallen officer who gave his life to protect his community the day after Christmas.

Killed while responding to robbery

The town of Woburn remembered Officer Jack Maguire with a police procession and a Christmas tree draped in blue lights. The tree overlooks the tragedy.

Maguire was shot and killed while responding to a robbery at Kohl’s on Dec. 26, 2010. He wasn’t even supposed to work that evening.

“Jack had enough seniority to take Christmas off, but he worked, so the younger people with younger kids could spend it with their family,” remembered former Woburn Police Chief Robert Ferullo. He was there the night that Maguire died but at the time he was a lieutenant on the force. “It was a miserable blizzard, it was a horrible night, Jack didn’t need to be here. Jack was right over there. Jack got out of his car, and engaged. And did what he was trained to do.”

Maguire exchanged gunfire with one of the men involved, Dominic Cinelli, who was out of jail on parole. He died from gunshot wounds sustained during the incident.

“A good officer”

“Jack was always a friend, a role model, a mentor, somebody I spent my entire career with,” said Ferullo.

“Jack was a really hard-working cop, grinding it out. He would work on all of the details. He would work all of the time,” said Maguire’s brother, Chuck Maguire.

That night, Chuck Maguire got a call from his cousin telling him that his brother had been shot. It wasn’t until he got to the hospital and started asking questions that he heard the final news.

“Then as I turned my head, they announce the code that he had died,” said Chuck Maguire. “It’s sad that he died just after turning 60, and just after he announced he was going to retire. We miss him. His kids miss him. My kids don’t see him.”

Chuck Maguire is thankful for the years of community support. People lined Washington Street in Woburn Thursday to watch the police cars pass by the tree in his brother’s honor.

“He was a great guy, a good family man, a good officer,” remembered Bruce Hildebrandt, a Woburn resident who takes the time every year to make sure the tree and its ornaments remain in place. “I pick them up, freezing my fingers off pinching the hooks, but that was not much of a suffering for me compared to what Jack gave for us.”