Schroon, NY- A bridge that passes over I-87 is being renamed after a New York State Trooper who was killed responding to a domestic violence incident in 2002.

Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a bill to name a stretch of Charley Hill Road in Schroon the “Trooper Lawrence P. Gleason Memorial Bridge”.

According to NYSP, Trooper Gleason was killed on Feb. 11, 2002 while responding to a domestic violence report in Crown Point. A 36-year-old woman had called saying her former boyfriend threatened her with a knife at her home before leaving. While Trooper Gleason was talking with the woman, the former boyfriend returned and fired three shots into the house from a .30-30 rifle, one of which hit and killed Trooper Gleason. The shooter then came inside and shot and killed the woman before committing suicide.

Trooper Gleason was 28 when he died, and had only graduated from the Academy Basic School less than a year before on May 15, 2001.

Sen. Dan Stec (R-Queensbury) and Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R-Horicron) sponsored the legislation calling for the bridge’s renaming.

In a statement announcing the renaming, Stec said, “Trooper Gleason exemplified heroism and service in the line of duty, his sacrifice on behalf of our communities should not, and cannot, be forgotten. Renaming these bridges is a small, but profound way, to acknowledge his life and make sure it lives on forever.”

In the same announcement, Simpson said, “To be a New York State Trooper is to make a binding commitment to serve and protect the public from danger. With that commitment comes a willingness to lay down one’s life to fulfill that promise. Trooper Lawrence P. Gleason made that very sacrifice protecting the people of the North Country. I thank Governor Hochul for ensuring we rightfully preserve the memory of Trooper Gleason to whom we remain forever indebted for his sacrifice.”