PHOENIX - Phoenix Police Chief Joe Yahner said Officer Dave Glasser died after being shot Wednesday by a suspect in Laveen, Ariz.
Yahner said Glasser's family said their final goodbyes to Glasser at St. Joseph's Hospital.
Yahner characterized Glasser, a Valley native, as a great man who loved his family and who wore his uniform with pride and honor.
"This is a dark day," Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said during a news conference Thursday.
According to Phoenix police, Glasser, 35, was a 12-year veteran of the Department. He is survived by his wife and two children.
He was a native Arizonan and graduate of Moon Valley High School, police officials said.
Glasser played basketball at Moon Valley, where he graduated in 2000. He was not the most talented on the team, his former coach John Boie said Thursday, but he worked hard at becoming better. Boie said he wasn't surprised Glasser became a police officer.
“You know he’s going to be a leader with kids, he’s going to be a leader with his family, he’s going to be a leader with his work people," Boie said. "None of that would surprise me at all.”
Boie and Glasser lost touch after graduation, Boie said. He found out about Glasser's death Thursday morning.
“You go through the feelings of just not wanting it to be true and hoping there’s a mistake," Boie said.
Glasser was responding to a call of a burglary in progress near 51st Avenue and Baseline Road Wednesday when he was shot. Investigators said Glasser was one of a number of officers involved in a shootout with the suspect.
Glasser was struck an undetermined number of times and taken to St Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.
Yahner said Glasser's organs will be donated.