TOLEDO, Ohio — When Tony Dia speaks of his son, his eyes shine with pride.
“He’s my lion. I tell everybody, he’s my lion," Tony Dia explained.
A firstborn son is a blessing. Someone to carry on your name, someone you teach by example.
And if you’re Tony, that means fearing God, praying to Allah five times a day, to fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and to wear your Lebanese heritage proudly.
For 26 years, a father and son shared their passions.
“A lot of wrestling, a lot of jujitsu," Tony said. "I used to take him to the international boxing club on Adams Street."
Perhaps almost every father has a moment when he realizes his son is no longer a boy.
"He wanted to make a difference," Tony said. "He likes the adrenaline, he likes the excitement, not the same ol' routine every day,”
That’s when Tony’s son decided to take his wrestling skills from the mat to the streets, putting them behind a uniform, gun and badge. Anthony Dia graduated from the Toledo Police Academy in 2018.
“I was proud of him," Tony Dia pauses. "I was very proud of him.”
And what a time to be an officer. In less than two years on the job, Anthony would work through the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial reckoning and unrest following the death of George Floyd. After midnight, on the Fourth of July, 2020, Tony got a call.
“I get to the hospital and they tell me [Anthony has] been shot, and I’m like 'what are you talking about, what do you mean he’s been shot?' And then they tell me, 'you know, we’re trying to revive him, we may not be able to revive him.'”
Anthony Dia was shot and killed by a distressed man in a Home Depot parking lot. He was just 26 years old, leaving behind a wife and two young boys. His final radio call his last words…"118, tell my family I love them."
In those darkest hours, one of many lights flickered for the Dia family. Lt. Bryan Hollingsworth, a personal services liaison for the Toledo Police Department, jumped in to help.
“That family liaison will be the go-between between the department and the family, because not only has the family lost someone very dear to them, they’re about to be thrust in the middle of something they have no imagination of how huge it’s going to be," Capt. Hollingsworth explained.
Tony was overwhelmed. “We had people all over the world doing services for him, in the UK, in Lebanon...he touched so many people," he said.
Closer to home, thousands of people were transforming Toledo into a memorial for a fallen hero. Officers came from across Ohio and the nation to pay their respects. Family members in Lebannon were saying prayers overseas as east meets west in grief.
As two worlds merged to lay Anthony to rest, Tony Dia’s was crumbling. How does a father say good bye to his firstborn son, his lion?
“I know I wanted to be there, to bury my son, so I got into the hole, and they handed him to me, and I laid him to rest," Tony said, sobbing, remembering when his son was handed to him in a simple shroud. Anthony was buried without a casket, per Islamic belief.
A firstborn son is a blessing. Now a father is carrying on his son’s name. Tony is learning from Anthony’s example.
“He’s a lot better man than I am. I mean, to be shot and dying and you know, all you care about is sending out a message, ‘tell my family I love them’ and not calling for help," Tony said, his eyes glistening.
Grief transforms us, and Tony is no different. For the past year, he’s been a man on a mission.
“We believe everything good that you do on earth, he’ll benefit for in the afterlife," he explained.
Tony’s drive to keep his son’s name among the living will never be satisfied. Bigger plans are in the works to serve the community through the Officer Anthony Dia Foundation.
“The goal is to help children that lost their mothers in some time of violent incident and be there for them," Tony said of a new initiative he's working on. The foundation would support children through holidays, birthdays and the first days of school.
We try to make sense of life’s cruelties. For Tony, the answer has become simple.
“I really believe it was God-sent, and he chose Anthony," Tony explained. "Just to bring people together."
Not only to bring people together in the wake of 2020’s division, but Tony believes to show the true side of Islam.
“He died trying to defend and help people, and if that’s not the true meaning of a shaheed, then I don’t know what is," Tony said, referring to his son as a martyr.
As we celebrate our freedoms this July, perhaps nothing embodies America and freedom quite like a Lebanese-American Muslim police officer sacrificing his life on the Independence Day, ultimately because he chose to serve and protect.
“I’ll continue honoring my son until I take my last breath," Tony said with determination.