Procession honors slain Deptford Township police Officer Robert Shisler

Red and blue police lights flashed along Delsea Drive on Tuesday morning in tribute to Deptford Township Police Officer Robert “Bobby” Shisler, whose body was coming home.

For almost two months, Shisler 27, received treatment at University of Pennsylvania Hospital after being shot in the leg March 10, and died there Sunday.

Shisler was shot while chasing Mitchell Negron Jr., 24, in Deptford. Shisler returned fire, killing Negron. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is still investigating, and has released little information. The office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Shisler’s death was caused by a “complication of a gun shot wound to the lower right extremity,” according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, and the manner of death was homicide.

Shisler is the first Deptford police officer killed in the line of duty, and the first officer killed in Gloucester County since 1999. His colleagues are still reeling from his death.

“We have a playbook for everything else,” said Detective Sgt. Robert Jones, the Deptford Police Department’s spokesperson. “We’re improvising about this, quite honestly.”

Jones was among the first to find Shisler after he had been shot near Doman Avenue during the midday pursuit, and he put a tourniquet on Shisler’s badly injured leg. Officers carried Shisler to a police car and took him to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. From there, he was transferred to University of Pennsylvania Hospital.

“This kid was strong, this kid was tough,” Jones said. “This kid battled for eight weeks out of sheer will.”

A Deptford native, Shisler graduated from Deptford High School in 2014, where he played baseball and football, according to an obituary posted by Boucher Funeral Home in Deptford. His baseball skills earned him a spot on the team at Presbyterian College. He joined the police force four years ago, Jones said, and served most recently in the department’s patrol division. Shisler had a passion for weightlifting, even winning a National Physique Committee body building competition, but his imposing physique wasn’t the only thing about him that made an impression.

“One of the things that first would hit you about Bobby was his smile,” he said. “His smile was infectious.”

Shisler’s younger brother is also a Deptford officer, and his grandfather was a police officer. He is also survived by his parents, Robert and Tracy Shisler, and a sister, Ashley Shisler.

The department’s administration is recommending officers acknowledge their feelings about Shisler’s death and accept everything from rage to confusion to grief.

“The support that we’ve gotten from our families ... wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, children ... has been tremendous,” Jones said. “And we still have a long way to go.”

Shisler’s hospitalization included multiple surgeries, and he lost part of his right leg. Over the last two months, Jones said, Shisler did at times regain consciousness, and knew about the outpouring of support. Nichole Rodgers, the wife of another Deptford officer, set up a GoFundMe to help pay for Shisler’s medical bills that has raised more than $144,000. She will continue collecting money, she said Tuesday, to support Shisler’s family.

» READ MORE: Deptford Township police officer dies from injuries sustained when he was shot in the line of duty

“His family is going to need all our love and support,” she said.

Virtually every Deptford officer participated in the caravan to claim Shisler’s body in Philadelphia. A motorcade of Deptford police cruisers, police motorcycles, and a hearse departed for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office from Boucher Funeral Home about 9 a.m.

Meanwhile, police vehicles from more than two dozen regional police departments lined Delsea Drive. A color guard from the Washington Township police department stood watch outside the funeral home.

Dozens, many of them family members of Deptford’s police force, maintained a vigil outside the funeral home, waiting for the motorcade. They carried American flags and some wore black Deptford police department T-shirts emblazoned with Shisler’s name, badge number, and the phrase “We’ve got your six” — another way to say “We have your back.”

”Always support blue,” said Heather Worthington, of Magnolia, a friend of Shisler’s uncle.

Worthington and her daughter Avah were among those who gathered outside the funeral home, drawn by their connection to Shisler’s family and the shock of his death.

”He fought a hard fight,” she said.

The motorcade, with a hearse no longer empty, returned to the funeral home shortly before 10 a.m., joined by Philadelphia Police Department vehicles.

Deptford police officers, black and blue bands around their badges, mustered in the funeral home’s driveway. Some exchanged long embraces.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Joan Parks, who is married to a Deptford officer and was one of the people who waited outside the funeral home for Shisler’s arrival. “One of the saddest things I’ve ever experienced.”

Services will begin with a visitation May 17 from 9 a.m. to noon at Pfleeger Concert Hall at Rowan University, followed by services at the same location, a funeral home employee said.