Skip Navigation

Deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher Hill remembered as loving family man

YDR image Christopher Hill service.jpg

A motorcade for Deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher Hill Thursday afternoon. (Photo: Jason Plotkin/ York Daily Record)

(Hershey) — A public memorial service was held Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey for Deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher Hill, who was killed in the line of duty in Harrisburg a week ago today.

Hill, 45, served as an Army Rangers for three years and as a Deputy U.S. Marshall for 11 years. In a service that lasted more than two hours, he was remembered as a devoted friend and family man, who always led the way. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Christopher_hill_marshal.JPG

Hill was fatally shot January 18 in Harrisburg’s South Allison Hill neighborhood. He was part of a Marshal Service fugitive task force serving an arrest warrant for woman, when a 31-year-old Kevin Sturgis, who was wanted in Philadelphia, opened fire. Hill was killed and York City Police officer Kyle Pitts was wounded. Sturgis was then shot and killed by other members of the team.

Hill also served on an elite special operations group that played a key role in the manhunt in the Poconos for fugitive Eric Frein, who ambushed a state police barracks in Pike County in 2014.

 “A brotherhood”

The Chambers Hill Fire Company of Swatara Township was among the fire companies that helped raise an American Flag above a motorcade honoring Hill Thursday afternoon.

Chief Brenden Orth says firefighters share a bond of community service and personal sacrifice with law enforcement. When either group loses someone, they all feel it.

“This is kind of what we do. We know that at any time we could be someone that may lose our life. It’s one of those risks we take. We know that, and we always hope that if something happens to us that we would be honored the same way, as Agent Hill was today.”

A_Flag_and_salute.jpg

Firefighters salute police officers at the front of the motorcade leading to the memorial service for U.S. Deputy Marshal Christopher Hill at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Brett Sholtis/WITF News)

This wasn’t Orth’s first time at a procession. He’s seen many in his 25 years in the fire service.

“I think everybody that’s in the emergency services field, whether you’re fire, police, EMS–we all lay our lives on the line for people in different ways, but all in the same way of being in a brotherhood.”

At the request of Hill’s family, the public memorial service was closed to reporters.

In lieu of flowers, Hill’s family asks for donations to be made in his name to The Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors, 3033 Wilson Blvd. 3rd Floor, Arlington, VA, 22201, or online at www.taps.org.

 

Brett Sholtis contributed to this report.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
Regional & State News

Want to stay in a tiny house? Now you can in Lancaster County