Vietnam Veteran Killed By Police Was Passionate and Complex

Man shot by Glendale police was passionate, complex 
The Republic
Matthew Casey and Liz Nichols
April 10, 2015

"Joe was one of those guys that, if it had something to do with vets, all you had to do is ask him," Weiers said. 

Dallas Tassinari holds a photo of of his father (right), Joe, as a young family man. Joe Tassinari was fatally shot by a Glendale police officer in March 2015 after the officer said he felt threatened by Tassinari.
(Photo: Matthew Casey)

Joe Tassinari and his son, Dallas, did everything together. But when Dallas became a teenager, he found it impossible to tell his dad those three little words.

"So that is what I'm going to start telling people, especially little kids, is you gotta say you love your parents every chance you get," Dallas said, "because you don't know the last time you're going to get the chance to."

Glendale police fatally shot Joe Tassinari in March 2015 outside his home near 67th and Peoria avenues. An officer said Tassinari, who was suspected of displaying a firearm at a woman earlier that night, did not obey commands and made a threatening move by reaching for his waistband. Dallas and neighbors said Tassinari typically kept a gun on him in one of his back pockets.

"I don't understand why this happened," Dallas, 28, said. "I still can't believe he's gone. The whole neighborhood is hurting."

Family and friends — the Mayor of Glendale among them — are trying to make sense of their loss as police continue their investigation, and they want answers.

Mayor Jerry Weiers said he had been friends with Tassinari for about a decade. The men worked together on veterans issues when Weiers was in state government.

Weiers said Tassinari, a Vietnam veteran, was a complex and compassionate man who didn't have much, but he always gave of himself to his neighborhood and Glendale.
read more here