CHARLOTTE — The monument to a fallen Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer that ended up in a creek bed will soon have a new home.
Previous story: Monument for fallen Charlotte officer found dumped in creek bed
Eyewitness News reported that a man was walking his dog near the University of North Carolina at Charlotte when he found the monument to officer Andy Nobles in a creek. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it plans to relocate the monument to the department's training academy.
"We're ready to bring it home. For me ...I've been out here at the academy for four years and I think this is a great place for it," said officer Wayne Embry, who leads new recruits on training runs at the facility off Shopton Road.
He says the monument to Nobles will be along the trail, along with others to officers killed in the line of duty. That will form what they might call a Trail of Heroes that new officers will follow as they run.
"I think it will be neat. And every day we run by it. It means something more to you," Embry said.
Officer Nobles was shot and killed in west Charlotte along with fellow officer John Burnett in October, 1993. The monument was commissioned by the homeowner associations of two condominium complexes where Nobles was living at the time.
The murders stunned the community, including a then-high school sophomore named Matthew Ridenhour.
IMAGES: Monument for fallen Charlotte officer found dumped in creek bed
"It was really neat seeing the whole school come together -- how their murders impacted everyone in the whole school," Ridenhour said Monday.
He said the murders inspired him to lead a drive at school to raise money to buy bulletproof vests for officers. Now a Mecklenburg County Commissioner, Ridenhour said when he saw what had happened to Nobles' monument it all came back.
"Tossing it aside like an old grocery cart in a creek like that -- it's so disrespectful," he said. "It's good that we're going to find a fitting spot for that memorial."