‘NEVER FORGET HIS SACRIFICE’
Ohio cop with wife and daughter, 2, ‘shot in chest and killed at Home Depot by intoxicated man who then killed himself’
A COP has died after being shot in the chest by an intoxicated man at a Home Depot parking lot, who later killed himself.
Anthony Dia, who was married with a two-year-old daughter, was responding to a 911 call about reports of the man at a branch of the home improvement retailer in Toledo, .
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The 26-year-old was shot at killed at around 12.30am, Toledo Police Department Chief told George Krahl told a news conference this morning.
The officer was responding to a reports of an intoxicated man walking around the parking lot.
“He was checking to make sure that this man was OK,” Krahl said.
Witnesses on scene told police the 57-year-old, male suspect was walking away when he turned and fired one round from a handgun and shot the officer.
Officers quickly placed their injured comrade into a cruiser and sped off to hospital, where the chief said he died.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said “our hearts are broken” as he paid tribute to the fallen officer.
"We are all in mourning, and we will never forget his sacrifice,” he said.
'BRAVEST AND BEST'
Shalene Houke said she was part of a group of friends were gathered in the parking lot, which serves as a hang-out spot where people hold informal car shows
The intoxicated man, who was not associated with the, started making trouble and was bothering another group of people nearby, she said.
Officer Dia told the man to stop but he kept walking, then crouched down behind some stacked up gardening supplies and fired at the cop.
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He returned fire before he went down and then Ms. Houke and a friend approached the officer.
They heard him asking for help and saying he’d been shot before he slipped into unconsciousness.
“He was young, and he was scared,” she said.
The mayor told the press conference he was at Toledo Hospital where Dia was taken after the shooting.
“I will never forget the sight of Officer Dia being wheeled out of the hospital on a gurney, his body wrapped in an American flag, flanked by about 30 Toledo police officers, saluting and weeping,” he said.
"Sacrifice comes in all forms and we cannot forget the struggle that our police officers face on a daily basis.”
The Mayor said the officer’s death, on the 4th of July, had a special poignancy.
He the Muslim officer “was not only of Toledo’s bravest and best police officers, he’s also someone who contributes to the diversity that makes our country and our city so great”.
“It is our nation’s birthday,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “And our nation’s motto is, ‘E pluribus unum.’ From many, come one.
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“We live in divided times. We must come together as one. We are one human family, one American family, and one Toledo family.”
After shooting officer Dia, the suspect went into a nearby wooded area.
Police used a drone and a dog on the ground to search then a heard single gunshot from the woods. Officers found the suspect about 3:15 a.m. dead of a single gunshot wound to the head.
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