Tearful Farewell To Florida Officer Killed In Line Of Duty
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LUTZ, Fla. (CBSMiami/AP) — A slain Florida officer was laid to rest Saturday amid the sounds of mournful bagpipes, a helicopter flyover and a 21-gun salute.
Gathering to bury Officer Charles Kondek of the Tarpon Springs Police six days after he was gunned down and two days after Christmas, his family reflected on how hard the holiday was without him.
"We miss him so much. Charlie was our best friend," Kondek's family said in a statement released before his memorial service at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz. "His heart was wide open. He loved Christmas and his excitement would fill the house every year as he played Christmas carols and announced that Santa had come. This year, opening Christmas gifts without him was unbearable, knowing that the gifts we opened from him this year would be our last."
Kondek was responding to a noise complaint early last Sunday when a fugitive, 23-year-old Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., fired multiple rounds at the officer, striking him once above his bullet-proof vest, authorities said. Parilla then ran over the officer, police said. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
Kondek, 45, was married with six children. In a 90-minute memorial, his youngest daughter, 15-year-old Aleena Kondek, told mourners her mother had "lost her best friend and the love of her life."
"My dad died as a hero," she said, "but he was my hero before he was any of yours."
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