LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – It was a hero's homecoming with an unveiling eight months after his July 2018 death.
"Nephew, cousin, friend, Navy veteran, Arizona state trooper, my hero," Keith Welscher said. They are words that describe who Tyler Edenhofer was to many people. To Keith, the word son may have been Tyler's top title.
"He always had this goal that he wanted to be somebody that someone looked up to," he said.
Which is why Keith says Tyler enlisted in the Navy and later as an Arizona State Trooper. But, Tyler's time with the agency ended last July. He was shot and killed in the line of duty outside of Phoenix 52 days into training.
"There's a select few of us in the fraternity of people who have lost loved ones in the line of duty and it's unfortunate you have to experience something like that," Welscher told WHAS11.
8 months after Tyler's death his family took part in a park bench unveiling at Skyview Park in Jeffersontown. His family fundraised for the permanent memorial.
"There was never a question of would we. The question was how would we? Putting the seat here with his monument, there's many people, many kids that pass by here," said Mayor Bill Dieruf.
At 24, Tyler is the youngest line of duty death for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Keith says Tyler knew the risks and even still, like so many others, put on the uniform and served until his end of watch.
"You know that when you kiss your wife goodbye, or you kiss your kids goodbye, this could be the day that you don't come home. He knew that going in but that never wavered him," he said.
Contact reporter Robert Bradfield at rbradfield@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.