Veterans Pay Tribute to Fallen Police Officer

GLENDALE —  Bringing a particularly somber moment to a veterans memorial, hundreds paused Friday during a tribute to those who died for their country to honor a man who died for his community--Glendale Police Investigator Charles Lazzaretto.

“Let us pause for a moment of silence,” Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian told the crowd of more than 1,000 at the opening of the Glendale Veterans Memorial, “for a friend, a police officer . . . who gave his life while on duty.”

Lazzaretto, a 30-year-old father of two, was gunned down Tuesday in a Chatsworth warehouse where he was searching for a man who allegedly tried to kill his live-in girlfriend.

Like the war dead being honored Friday, Lazzaretto was “fighting a war,” 65-year-old Don Leitch said. “A different kind of a war, but nevertheless it’s a war, and it’s for protecting our values as a society.”

The occasion, held on the official Memorial Day holiday, was the dedication of a veterans memorial--four free-standing black marble walls under a grove of sycamore trees west of City Hall. Cut into the walls’ black marble are the names of 208 local residents who died in the Vietnam War, Korean War and World Wars I and II.

So great was the response to a campaign for funding, Zarian said, that $166,000 was raised for the construction, which cost only $86,000. Materials were donated, along with workers’ time. The balance of the funds will be used to maintain the monument, which was flanked during Friday’s unveiling by bleachers of spectators, a 20-piece National Guard band and police officers gathered to honor their slain comrade, who was in the Marine Corps reserve.

“The grief of this is just incredible,” Police Chief James E. Anthony said as he made his way toward the crowd.

Particularly sensitive to the loss of Lazzaretto was Kerry Smith, 48, whose husband is a police detective in Phoenix, Ariz., and whose brother--Joseph F. McCarthy Jr.--is honored on Glendale’s new Vietnam wall.

Of the two dead warriors, she said, “They were protecting their home and their country. Whether it’s overseas, like my brother, or at home, like the officer, it’s all the same. They’re heroes.”

Martha Busby agreed. Her brother--Armando Monterubbio--is the first fallen serviceman listed on the Vietnam wall. Officers like Lazzaretto were “still helping their country, only theirs’ is the battle of the community,” she said.

Sgt. Jim Woody said a fund established for Lazzaretto’s widow, Annamaria, and her children--2-year-old Matthew and 3-year-old Andrew--had grown late Friday to about $15,000.

“Sometimes a tragedy helps bring people together,” said Officer Linda Reynolds, who works at the police station’s front desk.

Every five to 10 minutes Friday, another donor would appear at the window with cash for the grieving family, Reynolds said. Some gave $10, one $300. Still another--an unidentified police officer--offered $500, Woody said.

Andrew Jacobs, 39, a Burbank trash-truck driver, gave $40, and 25-year-old Anahid Luke of Downey walked into the station to donate $20.

“I couldn’t give that much but if everybody gave a little like this, they could really help,” Luke said.

After a 40-mile drive, Lt. Louie Hernandez and a sergeant from the Pomona Police Department showed up with a bouquet of flowers. Hernandez, who holds a master’s degree in psychology, offered to help in the “critical debriefing” needed by many officers when a colleague has been killed.