Local law enforcement to attend service for Tarpon Springs officer

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Funeral services will be held Saturday for Charles Kondek, the Tarpon Springs officer fatally shot in the line of duty.

The service will be held in Hillsborough County and many officers and deputies from Southwest Florida will be attending to pay their respects.

“A lot of us don’t know each other but we are still a family.”

Corporal Tony Pribble from the Punta Gorda Police Department is one of many officers making the drive to Hillsborough County Saturday morning.

Officer Charles Kondek was shot and then run over by a car while responding to a noise complaint at an apartment complex last Sunday.

“Too many have died in the last year. It’s actually 40 in the U.S. killed by gunfire alone and we feel that it’s necessary for us to go up and honor our fallen brothers and sisters every time we get the chance to do so.”

WINK News spoke to several agencies Friday, they tell us dozens of law enforcement officers from the Fort Myers Police Department and Lee and Charlotte County Sheriff’s Offices will pay their respects at the funeral tomorrow.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to go through a line of duty death like this, at the same time having it around the holidays,” said Susan Lindennuth.

Lindennuth travels with the Guns and Hoses Pipes and Drums of Southwest Florida, they too will take part in the funeral service.

“When you play the songs and you hear the families and you see the effect that all this has on them, it’s heartbreaking and it doesn’t get any easier,” said Lindennuth.

“Whether we’re young, old, veteran, new, new person on the block we become a family. Especially with our agency here. We’re a small agency but a huge family and if anything happened to one of us it would be devastating,” said Pribble.

The service will be held Saturday at 11 p.m.