Slain officer Family, friends and colleagues of slain police officer Glen Alvin Gaspar described him as an easygoing person and a good father, who was proud of his work.
remembered
as good dad
Colleagues say he was a hard
Shooting in Kapolei
worker and had no enemies
Recent officer slayingsBy Rosemarie Bernardo and Leila Fujimori
rbernardo@starbulletin.com lfujimori@starbulletin.com"He took care of his children," his brother Greig Gaspar said last night. "He was always taking them to their different sporting events, coaching their teams."
"He was very proud to be a police officer," he said. "He was very dedicated to his job."
The youngest of three boys, Glen Gaspar followed in his oldest brother's footsteps. Gilbert Gaspar Jr. is a police officer with the Hawaii County Police Department in Kona.
Gaspar, of Alewa Heights, turned 40 in January and had been on the force nearly 12 years when he was shot and killed in the line of duty yesterday in Kapolei.
He graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1981. In April 1989, he married the former Renee Schlemmer and they had two daughters, Kiana, 13, and Taysia 11. Although the couple divorced in 2000 and the girls live with their mother, Gaspar remained actively involved in his daughters' lives, his brother said.
"It's very difficult," Greig Gaspar said of the family's reaction. "We're still in shock."
Detective Earl Koanui of the Honolulu Police Department's Narcotic/Vice Division, a former Kamehameha classmate, said: "I don't think he had any enemies. He was very hard-working and conscientious."
Dirk Soma, who knew Gaspar since he was a seventh-grader at Kamehameha, said he was a multi-talented student who played the trumpet in the school band and participated in soccer and track.
"He was always there if you needed him," Soma said.
At times, Soma said, he would run into Gaspar while their daughters participated in the basketball clinic at Sacred Hearts Academy.
"He was a good man and a good father," Soma said. "It was good to catch up with him."
Soma added that Gaspar was always willing to help others and wanted to pursue a career that involved public service.
"It's unfortunate that good people have to give up their lives for others," he said.
Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue said Gaspar's attitude was what made him excel. "Talking with his parents today, they mentioned he was so proud of what he did as a police officer," he said.
Donohue and other top police officials spent most of yesterday afternoon at St. Francis Medical Center.
Family members and dozens of Honolulu police officers gathered at the emergency room to support each other throughout the afternoon as news of the shooting spread.
Some officers were dressed in uniform or wore dark blue police jumpsuits. Others were in civilian clothes. Many wore dark sunglasses, which were lifted occasionally to wipe away tears.
Koanui said he and other police officers had hoped Gaspar would be OK after they heard about the shooting at Kapolei Shopping Center.
"At first, you hope it's a mistaken identity. When they confirm it, you hope it's an injury he can overcome."
Star-Bulletin reporters Craig Gima and Debra Barayuga contributed to this report.
Honolulu Police Department
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HPD officers shot
in the line of duty>> April 18, 2001: Motorcycle officers Robert Steiner Jr. and Aaron Bernal were wounded in an exchange of gunfire with a man from a stolen van along the H-2 Freeway near Waipio. The gunman, Levi Esperas, 27, died of wounds sustained in the shootout.
>> Sept. 11, 1998: Officer Earl Haskell was wounded by a man breaking into cars on Makapuu Lighthouse Road. The two had scuffled, and the suspect, Peter Moses, shot Haskell and then fled to his car, where he was wounded by another police officer.
>> Aug. 31, 1994: Officer Stan Cook was wounded in a shootout with a driver armed with an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle during a routine traffic stop in Waipahu.
>> July 17, 1992: Sgt. Glenn "Jake" Jicha was wounded in the abdomen in a shootout when he and a half-dozen officers from the Wahiawa Crime Reduction Unit were serving a search warrant in a drug investigation. Jicha and his unit raided a Sunset Beach home, and police said Manuel Alvarez Hyde, 28, shot Jicha with a .44-caliber revolver. Jicha and another officer returned fire and killed Hyde.
>> February 1987: Two policemen were wounded when a man fired at them while they sat at a Moiliili fast-food restaurant. The gunman, described as a troubled street person, was killed after exchanging fire with three other officers. Reserve officer Brian D. Sugimoto and officer Lawrence Go recovered.
>> October 1987: Undercover narcotics officer Troy Barboza was shot to death in his Manoa home. Tony Williams, a drug dealer who had been arrested as a result of the officer's investigation, was convicted in his death.
>> June 1987: Officer David Ronk was fatally shot after he entered a Waianae home to serve court papers on a man. Clyde Pinero was convicted of killing the officer with his own gun. Pinero was resisting service of a restraining order to prevent him from seeing his wife.
Honolulu Police Department