KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The daughter of a fallen law enforcement officer in Kissimmee wants to make sure her father is remembered.
- Daughter of fallen KPD officer remembers dad
- Thomas Bartholomew (or 'Bart') killed while on the job
- Daughter was two-and-a-half when he was killed
While 35 years have come and gone, for her the heartbreak is still there.
Katie Shouvlin holds dearly the last photo she took with her father before he died.
“I've heard he is extremely witty and funny and had a great sense of humor and loved baseball, loved sports,” she said.
Shouvlin was just two and a half years old when her dad a Kissimmee Police Department Officer, Thomas Bartholomew, or Bart as many called him, was killed on the job.
On July 18, 1983, Bart responded to a domestic disturbance call where a man was holding his wife at gunpoint. As the man pushed his wife outside Bart tried to pull her to safety, the man shot Bart in the head.
Shouvlin said the woman’s little girl watched the whole thing unravel.
“My dad said to the guy, ‘You have to shoot me in order to shoot her,’ and the guy shot my dad from what I’ve heard, and I believe,” she explained.
There is a plaque inside of the Kissimmee Police Department lobby honoring Bart.
Shouvlin said she is happy to see the community has not forgotten her father. For Shouvlin growing up without a father has been tough, but she makes sure to keep his memory alive by talking to her kids about him.
If he was still here, she would tell him one thing.
“You're so honorable and brave and courageous, and we need more people in the world like you,” she said.
Former colleagues at Kissimmee PD remember Bart as a practical joker who had dreams of one day becoming a police chief.