One of the five officers killed in Thursday evening’s shooting was a Navy veteran who had previously served three tours in Iraq.
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Dallas police officer Patrick Zamarripa, 32, previously served in the Navy and served three tours in Iraq, according to his father, Rick Zamarripa, the Washington Post reported.
Rick Zamarripa was watching television Thursday night when he heard about the shooting in Dallas and knew his son was a bike officer downtown. He texted him asking him if he was okay. His son quickly responded, “Yes, dad. I’ll call you back.” The call never came.
Rick contacted his son’s longtime partner, Kristy Villasenor, who was at a Texas Rangers baseball game with their two year-old son, Lyncoln.
Shortly before the shooting, Villasenor posted a photo oh her and their son on Facebook with their feet dangling over a railing above home plate. She tagged Zammarripa in it.
“Glad Pat is there,” a friend commented on the photo, “and not in Dallas right now… .”
“He’s not here” Villasenor responded. “I just tagged him so he’ll get the pic.”
Villasenor, Rick, and Patrick’s stepmother, Maria were told to head to Parkland hospital. Rick asked an officer if his son was ok.
“He wouldn’t tell me,” Rick said. “He had that look on his face. I knew.”
Patrick Zamarripa was pronounced dead at 9:17 p.m.
“My son is a police officer in Dallas he was working there the rally in downtown where my son was shot and killed by a sniper along with four other police officers … Need prayers to get through this,” Rick Zamarripa wrote on Facebook.
Friends and family posted on social media to offer their condolences.
Zamarripa joined the Navy after high school and saw combat in Iraq while working for the military police. Roughly five years ago, he joined the Dallas Police Department and loved doing it.
His Facebook and Twitter are filled with salutes to fallen police officers and military servicemen.
