People stand along Rt. 422 in Annville to pay their respects before a celebration of life was held for Lt. William Lebo on April 8, 2022 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Dozens of emergency vehicles escorted Lebo's body to the Giant Center Friday morning. Dozens of people stood along the route to pay their respects to Lebo. Lebo was killed in the line of duty on March 31, 2022. Two other officers were also wounded.
Jeremy Long / WITF
Jeremy Long / WITF
People stand along Rt. 422 in Annville to pay their respects before a celebration of life was held for Lt. William Lebo on April 8, 2022 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Dozens of emergency vehicles escorted Lebo's body to the Giant Center Friday morning. Dozens of people stood along the route to pay their respects to Lebo. Lebo was killed in the line of duty on March 31, 2022. Two other officers were also wounded.
Family, friends and police officers and grateful residents from across Central Pa. came together Friday morning to celebrate the life of Lebanon police Lt. William “Bill” Lebo, who last week was gunned down by a burglar in a city home.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as a procession of police officers escorting his casket slowly made its way down Hersheypark Drive to the Giant Center in Hershey ahead of the 11 a.m. service. The procession started at Christman Funeral home in Lebanon.
Nine uniformed Lebanon City police officers carried Lebo’s flag-covered casket into the ceremony. Rows and rows of current and former police officers were there to greet them. A photo of a young Lebo in uniform was front and center onstage — right in front of a thin blue line flag.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers carefully folded the flag on Lebo’s casket and carried it away until the end of the service.
Lebo, 63, served 40 years on the force and was scheduled to retire May 1. He was one of three officers 34-year-old Travis Shaud shot March 31 inside his stepfather’s home in the 1100 block of Forest Street, according to the Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office.
Bill’s wife Lora Lebo and Lebanon police Lt. Eric Sims delivered the eulogy together to represent both the personal and professional parts of Bill’s lives.
“I just knew he was my person. I was blessed to have 14 years of wonderful,” Lora said. “He was my everything.”
Sundays were a time for slow jazz, barbecue, watching golf, and essentially relaxing before the start of another work week. Bill hated when people ruined a relaxing Sunday with noisy activities like mowing the lawn.
Lora said she often asked Bill if he was sure he’s happy. He’d respond, “Oh, you can’t imagine, dear.”
Sims, a mentee of Lebo’s, said Lebo was notorious for using all modes of transportation to get to work — his feet, car, pogo stick, scooter, among others.
Lebo regularly took his platoon out to eat and refused to let anyone else pay. He wore an argyle scarf to work when it was cold outside, and he always, always wore his police cap, according to Sims.
Sims said Lebo instructed the Lebanon police officers to drive slowly, with the windows down, to catch everything that was going on in the city. Lebo emphasized the importance of stopping to talk to residents to establish a rapport.
A favorite “Bill-ism” of Sims’ was, “You’re going places.” Sims thought Lebo saved that phrase just for Sims, but he later realized Lebo said that to everyone — and believed it.
Other people who knew Lebo told PennLive said his quiet, calm demeanor were perfect traits for a police officer to have, and largely successful at diffusing volatile situations.
“He was one of the good guys. You just didn’t get him upset,” said Lyndell Shuey, a childhood friend who grew up with Lebo in Ono, Lebanon County.
Shuey and “Willie, ”as Shuey called Lebo, went through EMS training together and joined Ono’s volunteer fire department as young men. Shuey said Lebo took every training session seriously and was always ready to go as soon as their rig pulled up to a burning building, or bad car crash.
“It’s a shame. They lost a good guy,” he said. “You can’t say enough good about him. I doubt you could find anybody who doesn’t like him.”
Lebo was making money in the autobody business back then, and Shuey was surprised when Lebo told him he wanted to become a police officer.
Shuey said Lebo was shy and a bit introverted. But it was these same quiet rationalization skills that later made Lebo a talented negotiator on the Lebanon police force, according to Shuey.
“I can only imagine he was cool, calm and collected that day,” said Greg Holler, a retired Lebanon police lieutenant. “Bill had such excellent control.”
The gunfight Lebo faced last month wasn’t the only time he was in a life-threatening situation on the job.
Lebo was excellent at de-escalating “hot calls”; emotionally charged situations that were violent or could potentially become violent, according to Rutter. De-escalation is the most undervalued skill for police officers, Rutter said.
“I have a lot of respect for him and the Lebanon City police has lost a terrific officer,” Rutter said.
Lebo didn’t have time to even react after he and three other police officers opened the back door of 1108 Forest Street March 31, armed with their handguns and ballistic shields. District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said Thursday that when he was asked to show himself and his hands, Shaud immediately grabbed one of his stepfather’s guns and started firing at the officers.
Officer Ryan Adams — who was shot and released from the hospital this week — was able to radio for help while Officer Kristopher McCarrick shot and killed Shaud. Officer Derek Underkoffler was also shot, and McCarrick had to carry him out of the house. Graf said Underkoffler is still in the hospital.
Lebo is survived by his wife, Lora; mother, Rina; and daughter, Corrine. He was born in Italy and his family moved to the United States when his father returned from military service, Graf said.
Lebo was the first Lebanon officer killed in the line of duty in nearly 120 years.
“Being a police officer is a calling, it’s not a job,” Bowman said. “It’s a whole lifestyle. It’s something that never goes away even when you retire. He fulfilled that calling and lifestyle as a police officer should.”
Staff writer Jonathan Bergmueller contributed to this report
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