COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Faith led Garrett Swasey to a career in public service and pastoral care, and duty led him to a Planned Parenthood clinic where was gunned down in a standoff.
The 44-year-old Swasey was the first of three victims to be identified in the shootings Friday at the clinic.
Married with two children, Swasey worked as a police officer at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. He was there when he was called to assist with an active shooter at the nearby clinic.
Swasey was originally from Melrose, Mass., where Police Chief Michael Lyle said he dedicated much of his life to helping others.
He moved to Colorado in the 1980s to pursue competitive figure skating, his father told the Boston Globe. He became a police officer six years ago, around the time his daughter was born, 73-year-old David Swasey said.
"He was a great dad," Swasey told the newspaper. "I mean, a super dad. Everybody in the police department loved him. Anybody who ever met him loved him. He was a great guy, a great person."
As a skater, Garrett Swasey won a national championship in the junior ranks and competed in the U.S. Championships at least three times, his father said.
Swasey was a co-pastor at Hope Chapel, an evangelical church in Colorado Springs.
He and his wife, Rachel, began attending in 2001, according to a bio on the church's website. "As they raise their son, Elijah, and daughter, Faith, they view the members of the church as their family," the bio reads.