VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Officers with the Virginia Beach Police Department are remembering one of their own, on the anniversary of his death.
On August 7, 2008, Detective Michael S. Phillips was working with the department's Special Investigations team on a drug bust at the Green Run Shopping Center on Holland Road, when two men opened fire.
Phillips was shot in the chest three times and he died at the scene.
In the hours following his death, people from across Hampton Roads placed notes and letters of gratitude and sorrow, flowers, crosses and other mementos in the parking lot. Those mementos eventually became part of a memorial honoring the detective at the shopping center.
A street was also named in Phillips' honor in 2016.
In a Facebook post made on the 11th anniversary of his death, Virginia Beach police asked everyone to take a moment to remember his sacrifice.