Ground breaking ceremony held for Hayward 9/11 memorial

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- A ground breaking ceremony was held in Hayward Friday on the site where a stone memorial will be built to memorialize victims of 9/11 and first responders.

The city of Hayward donated all the land and the construction material will be donated by the public. Crew hope to complete the memorial in the fall.

Among the names that will be inscribed on the stone tablets is Hayward police Sgt. Scott Lunger.

The memorial is dedicated to victims of 911, three Hayward police officers and a firefighter who died in the line of duty, but those who attended the ground breaking were deeply saddened. "When we planned this we didn't know that. Sadly this week we're going to have another name to add to that list," Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday said.

Lunger was killed Wednesday during a traffic stop. His name will be among those inscribed on 4' 10" foot tall black granite monoliths, representing the four planes that went down that tragic September day.

PHOTOS: Hayward police sergeant shot, killed

The man behind it is Veteran Marine Sgt. Michael Emerson. This is his seventh memorial project since 911.

Eight years ago in Union City, he built a granite tribute to victims of Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

Sandra Green and her mother lost their loved one, a flight attendant named Wanda Green on that plane.

To them, each one of these memorials is as painful as the first. "You've got to keep moving, but it doesn't make it any easier. It's always fresh," Green said.

Emerson is on a patriotic mission. "I want to make sure people that people remember, not only 911, but also veterans and first responders," he said.

That's why people believe it's important to include Lunger's name on the memorial stones.

"We do hope that his name will be first on this memorial and we hope that it's the last," Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern said.

A service for Lunger tentatively is scheduled to be held at the Neighborhood Church at 20600 John Drive in Castro Valley at 10 a.m. next Thursday.

Click here for full coverage on the Hayward police shooting.