Community bids farewell to slain Florida officer
LUTZ, Fla. — The mournful sound of bagpipes, a helicopter flyover and a 21-gun salute formed a tearful pageantry of loss as hundreds bid farewell Saturday to a slain Florida officer.
Gathering to bury Officer Charles "Charlie K" Kondek of the Tarpon Springs Police Department 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 with a car in which he fled, police said. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
Kondek, 45, leaves behind his wife, Teresa, who works in the Pasco County Clerk of Courts office, and five children. He served the city of Tarpon Springs as a sworn law enforcement officer for 17 years, many of which were on the midnight shift. Originally from New York, he previously served for more than five years as a New York City police officer before moving to Florida.
During the 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."
Police Chief Robert Kochen described Kondek as a "brave and true hero."
"When i accepted the opportunity and challenge as police chief I hoped that I would never experience the circumstances that have brought us here today," Kochen said. "The Tarpon Springs Police Department along with law enforcement representatives from all over the nation stand here today with the family and as the family of Charles Kondek to honor his life and sacrifice."
Contributing: WTSP-TV, Tampa, Fla.