CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Officer Joshua Eyer was honored Friday with a procession and memorial in downtown Charlotte.

“What a beautiful experience it has been to see this community come together in support of the ones who chose every day to protect us, even though most of us don’t deserve it,” Charlie Sardelli, Eyer’s best friend of 15 years, said during the slain officer’s memorial service.

Eyer — a husband and father to a one-year-old son — was one of four officers killed in the line of duty in east Charlotte on Monday while serving a warrant for a felon in possession of a firearm at a residence on Galway Drive.

The other three officers have been identified as Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks Jr.; North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) Officers Sam Poloche and William “Alden” Elliott, who were members of a USMS fugitive task force. Another four officers were injured by gunfire.

CHARLOTTE POLICE CHIEF BREAKS DOWN REMEMBERING 4 SLAIN OFFICERS, SAYS SUSPECT HAD ‘EXTENSIVE’ CRIMINAL HISTORY

CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer was one of four officers killed in the line of duty in east Charlotte on Monday. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)

“[I]f you needed the shirt from his back, he would have it off his body before you were done asking the question.”

— Charlie Sardelli

“When he spoke to you, all he did was listen. . . . And if you needed the shirt from his back, he would have it off his body before you were done asking the question,” Sardelli said. “When I was 20, my family lost our home, and I was with Josh when I got that phone call that my mom was on the street with my dog and a shopping cart full of her stuff. Josh didn’t just drop me off. He stayed. He spent eight to ten hours making sure my family’s things were taken care of.”

A person holds the program for the memorial for fallen CMPD officer Joshua Eyer at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer was one of four officers shot and killed on Monday, April 29, while attempting to serve a warrant on a wanted suspect in east Charlotte. Eyer was part of a U.S. Marshals Task Force team executing a warrant for the arrest of Terry Hughes Jr. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

Eyer then drove Sardelli’s mother to New York at 11 p.m. “But that’s just who Josh was,” Sardelli said before thanking Eyer’s parents for raising a good man and thanking Eyer’s wife, Ashley Eyer, for raising their toddler son.

Sardelli remembered how Eyer would often check in on him, sending a text that read, “How’s things?” and told memorial attendees to do the same for their loved ones.

CHARLOTTE SHOOTING: 4 LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS KILLED, 4 INJURED AS US MARSHALS TASK FORCE SERVED WARRANT

Police march behind the coffin of fallen CMPD officer, Joshua Eyer to First Baptist Church. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

“As one who received them so regularly, they’ll mean more than you can ever imagine to the person on the other side,” Sardelli said.

Ashley Eyer remembered her husband as her “very best friend.”

CHARLOTTE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WHO DIED IN SHOOTOUT IDENTIFIED: ‘FOREVER INDEBTED’

A horse-drawn carriage carries the flag-draped coffin of fallen CMPD officer, Joshua Eyer to First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer was one of four officers shot and killed on Monday, April 29, while attempting to serve a warrant on a wanted suspect in east Charlotte.  (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

Police console each other at the memorial to fallen CMPD officer, Joshua Eyer to First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer was one of four officers shot and killed on Monday, April 29, while attempting to serve a warrant on a wanted suspect in east Charlotte.  (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

“He was so, so good to me. I never have and never will question how much he loved me, and I will carry his love for me for the rest of my life. He loved all of you, too,” she said, adding later that the best way to honor and maintain her husband’s legacy would be to help her teach her son “who his daddy was and what he meant to each of you.”

“[T]hank you for giving me a beautiful life and our beautiful son.”

— Ashley Eyer

“Joshua, thank you for giving me a beautiful life and our beautiful son. We won’t let you down, OK?” she said.

Police console each other at the memorial to fallen CMPD officer, Joshua Eyer to First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer was one of four officers shot and killed on Monday, April 29, while attempting to serve a warrant on a wanted suspect in east Charlotte.  (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

Hundreds of other officers took part in Friday’s possession and hundreds of onlookers watched.

Memorial services for the three other slain officers have yet to be announced.

CHARLOTTE RESIDENTS SHOCKED AFTER 4 LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS DIE, 4 OTHERS INJURED IN SHOOTOUT

Supporters line the streets for the memorial of fallen CMPD officer, Joshua Eyer outside First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer was one of four officers shot and killed on Monday, April 29, while attempting to serve a warrant on a wanted suspect in east Charlotte.  (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings during a Tuesday press conference said more than 100 rounds were fired between the suspect or suspects inside the house and responding officers on Monday. Investigators recovered an AR-15 and a .40-caliber handgun from the scene.

Suspect Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39, died at the scene Monday after firing at officers from the second floor of his Galway Drive home, on the front and back side, Jennings said. Two additional persons of interest – both female, one only 17 years old – were taken into custody. Authorities have yet to determine whether there are any additional suspects who can be charged in connection with the mass shooting.

The home where four law enforcement officers were killed remains destroyed in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Four officers were killed in a shootout on Monday while trying to serve a search warrant. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)

Hughes had an “extensive” criminal record in multiple counties and had spent a significant amount of time in jail, according to North Carolina public records and Chief Jennings.

It is unclear at this time whether any other shooters were involved or if any other charges will be announced.

CHARLOTTE SHOOTOUT: 4 SLAIN OFFICERS SERVING WARRANT HAD ‘GREAT DISADVANTAGE,’ EXPERT SAYS

Biden is meeting with the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Biden visited Charlotte on Thursday to meet the fallen officers’ families and members of CMPD.

“We must do more to protect our law enforcement officers,” the president said in a Monday statement. “That means funding them – so they have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep us safe. And it means taking additional action to combat the scourge of gun violence. Now. Leaders in Congress need to step up so that we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns and pass universal background checks and a national red flag law. Enough is enough.”

A Florida woman was arrested after she allegedly broke into a neighbor’s home while she was naked and left her children unattended at her own home.

Haley Blunt, 24, is charged with burglary, criminal mischief and child neglect, Lake City Police said in a news release.

Officers responded shortly before noon Wednesday to a home on NW Huntsboro Street to a report of a burglary in progress.

When officers arrived, a victim told them an unknown person, later identified as Blunt, knocked on the front door, but when asked who was there, nobody would answer. Blunt then reportedly went to the home’s sliding glass door and again began to knock, but still would not disclose who she was when the victim asked.

2 TEENS CHARGED FOR DUMPING TRASH INTO FLORIDA SEA IN VIRAL VIDEO

The victim was on the phone with 911 dispatch when Blunt broke a window near the front door and entered the home, police said.

Officers then arrived at the home, where the victim met them outside.

After officers approached the front door, they located Blunt nude and bleeding from injuries she sustained while breaking the window and entering the home.

MLS GOALIE, WIFE ARRESTED AFTER NIGHTCLUB FIGHT IN FLORIDA

Haley Blunt was arrested after she allegedly broke into a neighbor’s home while she was naked. (Lake City Police)

Blunt was transported to a local hospital for treatment to her wounds. She was later released from the hospital and booked into the Columbia County Jail without bond.

An investigation into the incident revealed that Blunt lived in a nearby home and left her two young children unsupervised at home while she broke into her neighbor’s home, resulting in a child neglect charge.

The children were found safe and were later turned over to a family member.

When teachers at A.D. Henderson School, one of the top-performing schools in Florida, are asked how they succeed, one answer is universal: They have autonomy.

Nationally, most teachers report feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teachers last fall. Waning job satisfaction over the last two decades has accompanied a decline in teachers’ sense of autonomy in the classroom, according to a recent study out of Brown University and the University of Albany.

But at this South Florida school, administrators allow their staff high levels of classroom creativity — and it works.

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A public school of 636 kindergartners to eighth graders on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, Henderson scored in the top 1% to 3% in every subject and grade level on the state’s latest standardized tests, with the exception of sixth grade math, where students scored in the top 7%. In almost every subject, 60% or more of Henderson students score significantly above the state average.

“There is a lot of our own individual input allowed in doing the activities that we want to do in the classroom,” said Vanessa Stevenson, a middle school science teacher finishing her third year at the school. She plans to start an equine medicine class next fall even though the school has no stables — she believes she will find a way.

“It’s a bit of trial and error because there’s nothing being handed to you saying, ‘Do it this way.’ You just have to figure it out,” she said.

Joel Herbst, superintendent of Henderson and its sibling FAU High School, calls the faculty his “secret sauce” and argues the school’s success can be duplicated anywhere — if administrators cede some control.

When that happens, he said, teachers create hands-on programs that help students “not only show their understanding, but gain more depth.”

“Give (teachers) the freedom to do what they do best, which is to impart knowledge, to teach beyond the textbook,” he said.

Portland State University education professor Madhu Narayanan, who studies teacher autonomy, said independence has a high correlation to faculty morale and success. But autonomy must be paired with administrative support.

“It can’t be, ‘Here is the classroom, here is the textbook, we’ll see you in six months.’ Those teachers have tremendous autonomy, but feel lost,” he said.

‘THAT LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA’

Henderson emphasizes science, technology and math, using arts and humanities to help with those lessons. About 2,700 families enter a lottery each year for the 60 spots in Henderson’s kindergarten class and openings in other grades. There is no screening — some children entering Henderson are prodigies, most are average learners and some have learning disabilities like dyslexia.

The only tweaking is to comply with a Florida law requiring the student population at university-run “laboratory” schools match state demographics for race, gender and income. Because families apply to attend, parental involvement is high — an advantage Herbst and his staff concede.

Selected kindergartners are tested months before arrival so any needs can be immediately addressed.

“Some of them come in reading and some know five letters — and it is not just reading, but all subjects,” said Lauren Robinson, the elementary program’s vice principal. “We are going to provide every opportunity to close those gaps before those gaps grow and grow, instead of waiting until a certain grade level and saying, ‘Now we’ll try to close them.’ It’s Day One.”

In Jenny O’Sullivan’s art and technology classroom, kindergartners learn computer coding basics by steering a robot through a maze. Fourth and fifth graders make videos celebrating Earth Day. Students learn design by building cardboard arcade games like Skee-Ball for their classmates. Legos teach engineering.

While her new classroom has the latest technology, she insists such classes can be taught anywhere if the teacher is allowed creativity.

“My grandmother is from Louisiana and there’s a (Cajun) saying: ‘Lagniappe,’ that little something extra,” O’Sullivan said. “I get to be the lagniappe in (the student’s) education. Could you do without it? Yes. But would you want to? No.”

Working in small groups while dressed in white lab coats and goggles, the sixth graders in Amy Miramontes’ Medical Detectives class solve a mystery daily. They have examined strands of rabbit muscle under a microscope, using safe chemicals to determine what neurological disease each animal had. They have tested fake neurotoxins to determine which ailments afflicted their imaginary patients.

Miramontes hopes the class not only piques the students’ interest in medicine, but implants knowledge needed in two years when they take the state’s eighth-grade science test.

“They’re always learning by having their hands on something,” Miramontes said. “If they mess up, it’s OK — we start over. But then we learn a great life lesson that we have to be very diligent.”

Marisha Valbrun, 12, took Medical Detectives because she might want to be a doctor. She’s learned that while science is challenging, by seeking assistance she can overcome obstacles.

“I feel like if I just ask any person in this room for help, they can give you that right answer,” she said.

USING ART TO TEACH SCIENCE

Even at a school where teachers exude enthusiasm, elementary art teacher Lindsey Wuest stands out — she can’t stand still while describing how her lessons center on science.

On this afternoon in her Science as Art class, Wuest and a visiting artist are showing third graders how to make clay bobblehead dolls of endangered species — while also teaching the chemistry of why glazes change color in the kiln.

“Hopefully those students who love art can also develop a love of science,” she said. “Project-based learning sticks with the kids for longer.”

Third grader Maximus Mallow said that by working on his leopard bobblehead, he learned how the animal’s camouflage works.

“We have fun while we create stuff about science,” the 9-year-old said.

Henderson’s success leads to grants — and nowhere shows that better than the middle school’s drone program, which recently won a national competition in San Diego.

Henderson’s drone teams have a room to practice flying the 3-inch-by-3-inch, four-rotor devices through an obstacle course, plus flight simulators donated by the local power company.

The drone program is a chance to compete while using the physics and aeronautics learned in the classroom, teacher James Nance said. While expensive equipment is a benefit, Nance said, drone classes can be taught on a shoestring. At a previous school, he made a flying course out of PVC pipe and balloons.

Eighth grader Anik Sahai pulls out his cell phone in Stevenson’s science classroom, an act at Henderson that usually means a trip to the office. But he is demonstrating an app he created that uses the camera to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. It took first place in the state’s middle school science fair and is being considered for commercial use.

The 14-year-old credits his success to his years at Henderson, beginning in the preschool program.

“The teachers here, they’re amazing,” he said. “They’ve been trained on how to get us to the next level.”