Pictured are slain Cleveland police detective James Skernivitz and Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams, who is Black

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Private funeral services were held for slain Cleveland police officer James Skernivitz at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland Friday morning.

He leaves behind a wife and three children, whom he dearly loved, sources said.

And he loved being a cop, and wearing the uniform, a 25-year veteran of the police force.

Among those in attendance were family members, friends and invited guests, and an entourage of police officers.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams was among the speakers.

Chief Williams praised Skernivitz as a family man and a dedicated police officer, the consummate team player who was loved and respected by his colleagues and peers, the chief said.

"Badge #2249 will always live in the hearts and minds of this city," said Williams, who is Black.

An undercover narcotics police officer at the time of his death, Det. Skernivitz, fondly called "Skern" or "Skernie" by fellow officers and close friends, was gunned down in his unmarked police car on Sept. 3 on the city's largely White west side, a 50-year-old drug informant in the car with him at the time also shot and killed.

David McDaniel, 18, and two juveniles, one 17-year-old and the other 15, are currently in custody and charged with their deaths, McDaniel charged with two counts of aggravated murder and the teens each with two counts of aggravated murder and charges of aggravated robbery and felonious assault.

All three of the defendants charged in the case are Black as racial tensions between police and Cleveland's Black community continue to be a problem, a decades long problem in fact.

A cop affidavit in the case says McDaniel and the two teens allegedly robbed Skernivitz, who was White, and the drug informant, Scott Dingess.

Both victims were then shot to death.

The shooting incident occurred about 10 pm on West 65th Street near Storer Avenue in Cleveland's Stockyards neighborhood near the Roses Discount Store.

Skernivitz' car crashed into a playground after he was shot.

The officer was later rushed to MetroHealth Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Skernivitz is the second  on-duty Cleveland police officer to die in the line of duty since Derek Owens, who was Black,  on Feb. 29, 2008.

Owens was shot and killed by Lamidi Kafaru after allegedly witnessing a drug deal and initiating a chase.

Kafaru is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Two other Cleveland police officers were killed in the line of duty in the last 20 years, Jonathan Schroeder in 2006, and Wayne Leon in 2000.

Federal authorities sent in by President Donald Trump to quell crime as part of his Operation Legend initiative continue to have a say relative to policing in the city, whether visibly or discretely.

Det. Skernivitz had just been sworn in as an Operation Legend officer before he was shot and killed last Thursday night.

Led by Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor who is currently serving a fourth term as mayor, the largely Black major American city of Cleveland is still recovering from riots that broke out in downtown Cleveland during a May 30 protest for justice for George Floyd, more than 100 people arrested in connection with the protest on charges ranging from resisting arrest to aggravated rioting.

Cleveland's celebrated police killings of Blacks in the last decade include 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Brandon Jones, Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, and rapper Kenneth Smith.

The city and the U.S. Department of Justice remain parties to a court-monitored consent decree for police reforms instituted in 2015.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.