mission: HERO
Toledo, OH – Toledo Police Officer Anthony Dia, 26, responded to a call of an intoxicated male in the Home Depot parking lot near Alexis Road and Lewis Avenue in Toledo early Saturday morning according to The Toledo Blade.
Officer Dia approached the subject who began to walk away, but then suddenly turned around and fired a gun toward the officer. Officer Dia was hit in the chest.
Toledo Police Chief George Kral said Officer Dia, “was checking to make sure that this man was OK.”
Officer Dia was able to return fire but the suspect ran away.
Officer Dia radioed for help and transmitted over the radio, “Tell my family I love them.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that fellow officers took Officer Dia to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Chief Kral said the suspect committed suicide a short time later while hiding in the woods.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said at a press conference that he was at the emergency room when Officer Dia died. “It was a horrific and heartbreaking moment and to my dying day, 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.”
“Officer Dia was a family man, a Muslim, and one of Toledo’s bravest and best police officers.”
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz
ODMP reported that Officer Dia served with the Toledo Police Department for two years. Officer Dia is survived by his wife, two sons, and his parents.
Officer Anthony Dia, thank you for your service, you are a true hero.
Add comment