David “Mogie” Magill plans to add fallen Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire to his Back the Blue T-shirt, which he will sell for a fundraiser concert to help local police departments in June.

McIntire’s name and badge number, 1501, will join other local police officers who were shot to death in the past 11 years — Lower Burrell Officer Derek Kotecki and New Kensington Officer Brian Shaw. This isn’t just a T-shirt design change for Magill.

Magill is friends with all three families, and he knows their loss — or rather he knows of their loss.

Magill coordinates the Back the Blue Fundraiser for local police departments and the Officer Brian Shaw Foundation concert at his bar, Mogie’s Irish Pub in Lower Burrell.

“We’re supportive, but we can’t suffer as they do,” Magill said. “That’s their loved one — their brother, their son, their husband. The pain and suffering doesn’t go away.”

Holidays and birthdays bring the trauma back. Losing a loved one to a criminal act is exceptionally brutal, he said.

But members of the Kotecki and Shaw families, their friends, law enforcement and residents went on to rally for countless fundraisers. They ranged from scholarships in both men’s names benefiting local students and Allegheny County Police Academy cadets to helping with other community needs.

There have been concerts, T-shirt sales, stunning arrays of raffle gift baskets, a popular golf tournament and a motorcycle ride that has turned into one of the largest rides in Western Pennsylvania.

“Having the support throughout the tragedy and continuing to show support to keep our loved one’s memory alive is a blessing,” said Derek Kotecki’s wife, Julie, on behalf of herself and the couple’s two sons, Nicholas and Alexander. “We are grateful to live in such a community full of amazing people.”

In the Alle-Kiski Valley, residents have provided food, monetary donations and more to help their local police and assist the families of fallen officers.

“The local communities have given law enforcement overwhelming support during these tragedies, namely the murders of Derek Kotecki, Brian Shaw and Justin McIntire,” said Lower Burrell Detective Steve Aulerich, president of the Allegheny Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 39.

Some of these same families and friends, including the Shaws, already have reached out to the McIntire family.

Western Pennsylvania has many small police departments, which can make the killing of a police officer even more personal, Aulerich said.

“Community members know their local officers, some by first name,” Aulerich said. “This gives a much more personal connection between the police and community.”

In the past decade, the collective grief and need to memorialize Kotecki and Shaw turned into foundations raising money for education and to better equip police.

“These are a group of law enforcement supporters who felt strongly about making something good out of a terrible tragedy,” said Leslie Uncapher Zellers, one of the founding members of the Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Fund.

That’s where the Shaw motorcycle ride was born. Zellers and others wanted to raise funds to provide financial assistance to police cadets who want to serve their communities like Shaw did.

Right now, the most important thing for Brackenridge and its surrounding communities is to show McIntire’s loss was not in vain, Magill said.

“McIntire was somebody who stood out in the community,” Magill said. “He was loved by the community, and he will be missed.”

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