EAST LONGMEADOW – A second memorial event will take place on April 15 to honor the memory of East Longmeadow High School (ELHS) class of 1994 graduate and Dallas, TX, police officer Michael Krol, who was killed along with four other officers in a shooting on July 7, 2016.

Jennifer Cunningham Maccarini, a friend and classmate of Krol’s, told Reminder Publications a private gathering for ELHS’ class of 1994 to honor Krol took place on July 15 and the second memorial would invite members of the public to celebrate Krol’s life.

“We just felt like there were so many other people that had expressed to us that they would like to honor Mike in some way and so our class decided to go ahead and coordinate another memorial service – that way we could reach out and invite more people,” she added. “We’re really hoping to be able to get people who knew Mike and who want to be able to honor his life to come to the event.”

Maccarini said Krol played Spartan basketball for East Longmeadow High as a center on the same team as her husband Marc.

“Mike was a really good athlete,” she explained. “I became friendly with Mike through my husband, but also our class was very small [with] about 150 people and really close knit. A lot of people were friends with Mike. He was just really sweet … We were friends from the day he came until the day he graduated.”

The second memorial would take place at 10 a.m. on April 15 at the Spartan Walkway in front of the high school and if inclement weather occurs the memorial would be moved to the high school auditorium, she said. School Committee Chair Richard Freccero, who was the principal of ELHS when Krol attended the school, would speak during the event as well as Father Wayne Biernat of St. Michael’s Church and Krol’s former classmates Cathy (Henry) Allen, Ed Dubish, and Michael McKenna.

Members of Krol’s family are set to attend the memorial, Maccarini said. Krol originally came to East Longmeadow from Michigan and after he graduated his family moved back to their home state. Krol’s mother and his sister Amie, who now lives in Georgia, are likely to attend.

“His family didn’t have a lot of roots in East Longmeadow and he lost connection with quite a few people after high school, but the people that he did connect with while in high school just loved him,” she explained.

A GoFundMe page has been created in order to help defer the costs of travel and hotel expenses for Krol’s family to attend the memorial. To donate to the account visit www.gofundme.com/ michael-krol-elhs-memorial.