An Ohio police officer killed in the line of duty on the Fourth of July had one last message for his loved ones: “Tell my family I loved them.”
Jayme Dia, the wife of Toledo officer Anthony Dia, said he made the remark into his radio after being struck by gunfire outside of a Home Depot store early Saturday.
The 26-year-old cop was responding to a call about an intoxicated man in the store’s parking lot and when he “approached the male to check his safety,” that individual turned around and fired a single bullet from a handgun, police say, citing witnesses.
“He bled out, pretty much. They did what they could with lifesaving measures, but there was nothing they could do,” Jayme Dia told the Toledo Blade newspaper, describing how Anthony had been rushed to a local hospital by responding officers.
“The last thing he said over the radio was, ‘Tell my family I love them,’” she added. “He lived for his family, and he loved, just loved, being a police officer.”
