The father of a Dallas police officer who served in the Navy before joining the police force has identified his son, Patrick Zamarripa, as one of the five officers killed by a gunman Thursday night.
"My son was shot and killed by a sniper along with four other police officers," Rick Zamarripa wrote on Facebook early Friday, saying he was at Dallas' Parkland Hospital waiting to see his son be "moved to the medical examiner's office."
"Need prayers to get through this," he wrote.
Patrick Zamarripa, 32, was an Iraq War veteran based with the Navy's 5th Fleet in Manama, Bahrain, according to military service records. He enlisted in the military less than a month before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Rick Zamarripa told The Washington Post that his son had joined the Dallas Police Department about five years ago, after getting out of the military.
Patrick Zamarripa's Twitter biography said he was "addicted to the thrill of this job." He regularly posted selfies of himself in uniform, grinning, and of his 2-year-old daughter, Lyncoln Rae.
"My new reason for ... life. #daddysgirl #princess," Zamarripa wrote on Twitter in December 2013 with a photo of his baby girl, who was frequently seen in later posts wearing Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers clothing and hair bows.
Rick Zamarripa sent a text message to his son Thursday night after seeing television reports that shots had been fired in downtown Dallas during a peaceful protest, according to The Washington Post.
"Hey Patrick," the elder Zamarripa texted. "Are you okay?"
He got no response.
Lyncoln, the little girl he adored, cried out for him Thursday night, Rick Zamarripa told The Post.
Patrick Zamarripa's cousin, Gilbert M. Martinez, posted photos of Zamarripa in his military and police uniforms on Facebook on Friday morning.
"No words can express the ignorance of today's society," Martinez wrote. "My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, and the kids he leaves behind. ... #bluelievesmatter."
