Bagpipes blared amazing grace, a family mourned and a sea of thousands of well-wishers lit candles and paid tribute to Las Vegas Police Ofc. Charleston Hartfield, gunned down in Sunday’s massacre d.
Fellow officers who went through the police academy with Hartfield, through their tears, belted out a yell the would shout when they were cadets. “Chuck. This is for you. Third platoon! Aaaah!”
Hartfield was a married father of two children. A member of the Army National Guard and a youth football coach.
Ofc. Jake Grunwald said the man he called Charlie loved his family, his community and his country so much his colleagues on the force said Hartfield was nothing short of heroic. “They classified him as Capt. America. That’s truly the type of person he was,” Grundwald said. “Everyone looked up to him. Everyone respected him.
“Even if he didn’t have a gun on him, he would do whatever he could to protect everybody around him at that concert.” Gruwnald said. “He would’ve tried to save every life around him before he went down.”
Ofc. Christopher Dennis was at the concert, off-duty, as well. Dennis is certain that Hartield leapt into action as soon as the bullets rained down.
“He was the best kind of person you could ever meet.” Dennis said. “I know he was there, trying to get as many people out when got shot. He was doing everything he could to protect people.”
