Las Vegas Community Remembers Off-Duty Officer Killed At Concert
The Las Vegas PD confirms that one of its officers was killed, but they haven't named him. Charleston Hartfield was also a youth football coach, and his death is being mourned on social media.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now throughout today's program, we're recalling some of the victims of the shooting. NPR's Ina Jaffe has been learning about some of them. And Ina, would you tell us about the next one, Charleston Hartfield?
INA JAFFE, BYLINE: Well, Hartfield was a Las Vegas police officer. He was off duty at the time of the shooting at the concert. And the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirms that one of their off-duty officers was killed. But as with all of the victims, they haven't named him. And family members aren't talking to the media either. But Charleston Hartfield had deep ties in the Las Vegas community, both as a police officer and as a coach of youth football.
And he's being mourned quite publicly. One team he worked with, the Henderson Cowboys, they posted on their Facebook page that, quote, "Coach Chucky would want you to keep to the plan and keep moving forward. Use as motivation and inspiration, not for sadness and sorrow." Another youth football group he worked with held a memorial service for him last night and posted it on video online.
INSKEEP: So an indication of what he did with his extra time there. What did he do with his police career?
JAFFE: Well, he was an 11-year veteran of the Las Vegas Police force. And before that, he served 16 years in the military. And we know this from the Amazon page for his recently self-published book called "Memoirs Of A Public Servant." The book is described as documenting the thoughts, feelings and interactions of one police officer in the busiest and brightest city in the world. And he talked about some things that were very important to him.
And one of them was the talks he gave to school groups when he was with the Community Oriented Policing Section. He writes about young people with real sensitivity. And Hartfield is going to be survived by his own two kids and his wife, Veronica (ph).
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Ina Jaffe. Ina, thanks very much.
JAFFE: You're welcome.
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