Posted on 11/23/2009 2:57:27 PM PST by llevrok
Ryan Nettleton was serving his second tour in Iraq when he learned his police officer brother Trevor had been shot and killed Thursday in Las Vegas.
Without sleeping or showering, the 26-year-old specialist from Tacoma flew to Kuwait, then Washington, D.C., then Washington state.
Upon landing Saturday, he headed straight to Fort Lewis to pick up his dress blues so he could honor the older brother who inspired him to join the military.
Ryan Nettleton will wear his formal uniform Wednesday at a Mass for Trevor in Las Vegas. Family members rallied to raise money for him to fly to Nevada this afternoon.
“We need to pay our respects,” he said in an interview Saturday night. “Trevor said, ‘Family is everything,’ and he carried that out to the last minute of his life.”
A three-year veteran of Las Vegas Metro Police and a former Marine, Trevor Nettleton, 30, was killed in his garage during a botched robbery. Police are holding two teens and a 20-year-old man on charges of suspicion of murder and attempted robbery.
Trevor Nettleton left behind a wife, Danielle; and two young children, Quinn and Tanner.
“We come from a family of service members,” Ryan Nettleton said.
The brothers grew up in Yakima and Tacoma, with parents in the Washington State Patrol.
“When we were kids, we talked about being police officers,” Ryan Nettleton said, adding that the idea was to get military training so they could better serve as police officers.
Trevor Nettleton entered the Marine Corps out of high school in 1997 and served nine years. In 2002, following his brother’s example, Ryan Nettleton enlisted in the Marines. He was discharged a year later for an ankle stress fracture and joined the Army in March 2007.
In August 2007, Trevor Nettleton was one of five officers who received a departmental recommendation for saving lives during a condominium fire.
Condo resident Marlene Lavin said Trevor Nettleton took care of her then-5-year-old daughter and returned for the girl’s birthday, with presents for the children at the complex who lost everything.
“Trevor knew where he lived was a dangerous city,” cousin Shellie Sappa said. “He wanted to help the most people he could.” Family members gathered Saturday night at grandmother Sandra Collins’ home on South Alder Street in Tacoma. They described Trevor Nettleton as a naturally early riser and avid baseball fan who played with the Yakima Beetles American Legion team.
“He was one of the best catchers,” Ryan Nettleton said. “I would hitch a ride to the field to watch him play. I loved doing that every summer.”
“They were good boys,” said Jan Costello, the brothers’ maternal aunt. “Trevor led the way and Ryan followed.”
There are lighthearted memories too, like 10-year-old Ryan beating his older brother at go-karting at Ocean Shores.
“He was in the lead,” Ryan Nettleton recalled. “He turned to look at me, and crashed into the tire wall. He always said, ‘I gave you that one.’ ”
One of Ryan Nettleton’s happiest moments was when he heard about the birth of his nephew Tanner, Trevor’s first child. At the time, Ryan Nettleton was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, with the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
“That night, Feb. 8, 2008, he called me up and broke the news to me,” he said. “I ran around the barracks screaming, ‘I’m going to be an uncle.’ I felt like I could fly out of that place.”
Family members are trying to raise enough money to fly to Las Vegas so they can mourn Trevor Nettleton’s death together. Tamarah Anderson expressed the need to see her sister Debbie, Trevor’s mother. Debbie Austern of Tacoma was visiting her son in North Las Vegas and was in the house at the time of the shooting.
“Our sister is there without her family, getting ready to bury her firstborn son,” Anderson said.
Ryan Nettleton wears a gray-green parachute cord around his left wrist – a last gift from Trevor, when the younger brother visited him while on leave in March 2008.
“We did shooting at the Vegas Metro shooting range, and I was about to leave,” Ryan Nettleton said. “He told me, ‘You never know when you need 550 cord.’ ”
He hasn’t taken the bracelet off since. Not even when he was being fitted at Fort Lewis for his dress blues.
“He’s always going to be my big brother,” Ryan said, “even if I pass him in my age.”
How you can help
The Nettleton family has set up an account for donations. Contributions to the Ryan Nettleton Relief Fund can be made at local branches of Wells Fargo Bank.
Prayers for them and their families.
It’s so terrible when scum end up taking out the best. But he did a lot of good in his time here.
Adrian Pena, 17, was not immediately identified because of his age. But prosecutors plan to charge him as an adult and said he was also responsible for an armed robbery that happened less than an hour before Nettleton was killed. Authorities said Pena and 18-year-old Prentice Marshall, who is also under arrest, held up a teen near Cheyenne and Simmons roads. The Clark County School District said Pena attended Mojave High School until Oct. 8 of this year, but would not say why he was no longer attending school. Pena is being held at the North Las Vegas Detention Center. He is charged with murder, attempted robbery and conspiracy. All charges come with a “gang enhancement” because police said Pena is a gang member.
Prayers up for these good folks.
And, if convicted, the worthless scum perps should be taken to the top of the Stratosphere, have about 200’ of stout rope noosed around their miserable necks and tossed off — after tying the free end around a post first. Then let them hang there so the birds can feed on them.
I hope the scum get the book thrown at them. They’re going to have an entire city full of cops out for their hides as it is.
The perp looks downright feral.
My prayers for the family. God grant them strength in their hour of need.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
WA Ping
Great young people with a dream
POS with out a conscious
surprise, he’s a gang member. look at his “tough” booking photo. rot in hell adrian.
nice haircut (on the left)
to these perps, life is worthless. they would just as soon shoot any lib, they wouldn’t care.
Supposedly there’s 5 perps in all, 2 more Obama voters, couldn’t find pics on the other 2 yet but their names are a dead giveaway.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
Quick link: WA State Board
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.
sh1t! - what a shame
Why did they have to kill him? 5 to 1, they could have left it at that.
May they rot in jail.
Ex-military and a police officer, the guy put up a fight, a lib wouldn’t have bothered.
http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/21677733/detail.html
Can someone tell me what the difference is between Seattle and Tacoma? I lived in Seattle for 5 years (recently). As I was doing a PhD, I didn’t get out much, so I though I lived there, I don’t know much about the people in the city.
I noticed that every time the news mentioned some criminal event occurred, it seemed to happen in Tacoma. We got to the point where, as soon as the newscaster started the story, we’d bet that it happened in Tacoma.
Of course, there was activity in Seattle, but as 2 Philly transplants, the crime in Tacoma seemed more like the hard core Philly crime, not what passes for crime in Seattle.
So, are there different types of people in Tacoma compared to Seattle? Something different about the town’s atmosphere? We just couldn’t figure out the difference.
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