The father of slain Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick is speaking out, saying that he hopes his son's killing at the Capitol riots will stop the "lunacy."
“I’m supposed to die first,” said Charles Sicknick, 81. “Not my son.”
In an interview with Reuters, the surviving Sicknick said that becoming a Capitol Police Officer was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for his son.
"He loved his job," Sicknick said. "I'll never get over this."
Brian Sicknick died last Thursday at age 42, a day after he was injured while defending the U.S. Capitol from the violent mob that stormed the building after President Donald Trump delivered a speech encouraging supporters to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's election win.
Sicknick was reportedly bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher, according to The New York Times and The Associated Press, citing two law enforcement officials. A statement by the Capitol Police said he was injured and collapsed after returning to his office.
The elder Sicknick said that his son died because of a blood clot in his brain and that "if they had operated on him, he would've become a vegetable."
Sicknick's first assignment was to protect President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and though he was a supporter of Trump, his father said, “he just got along real well with everybody because he was a gentleman."
“If any good comes out of my son’s death, I just hope that it stops all the lunacy that’s been going on in this country,” his father said.
Sicknick said he received condolence calls Friday from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. Biden called Brian Sicknick’s brother on Sunday, according to two Biden officials. Trump had yet to reach out to the family as of Sunday night.
