The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
City couple’s relative killed in Vegas
Man remembered as ‘an overall great guy’
TORRINGTON — The fatherin-law of a former Torrington High School baseball player was among the 59 people who died in the Las Vegas shooting late Sunday.
C.J. Giampaolo and his wife, Jessica, both of Torrington, along with her father, Kurt Von Tillow, 55, of Cameron Park, Calif., near Sacramento, and other family members would meet every year for this concert, said Charles Giampaolo, C.J.’s father.
He said it was an annual tradition for the family since it started four years ago.
“Kurt was hit, right next to my son, and (Kurt) went down,” said Charles Giampaolo. “They tried to cover him up; no one knew what had happened at that point because it was early in the shooting.”
Two other family members were shot: one in the ankle and the other in the thigh. Charles Giampaolo believes the women were in surgery but did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
Charles Giampaolo described Von Tillow as “just an overall great guy” with a “wonderful sense of humor full of laughter and joy.” Giampaolo said he had known him for almost a decade.
Von Tillow made it a point to see his daughter and son-in-law when he drove through Connecticut to transport items for his trucking company, Giampaolo said.
Friends and family gathered at the Cameron Park Country Club on Monday to mourn and remember Von Tillow, KCRA TV of Sacramento reports. They led a procession of golf carts from the club, to which he belonged, to his home.
Outside Von Tillow’s backyard, family created a memorial with flowers and American flags, the news outlet said. They played the national anthem, as they say Von Tillow would have wanted.
“My brother-in-law was the most patriotic person you've ever met,” Mark Carson told KCRA. “Guarantee you, he's covered in red, white and blue right now, with a Coors Light in his hand, smiling with his family and listening to some music.”
Of the 527 people injured in the shooting, many remained in critical condition Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. As of Tuesday, the shooter’s motive was still unknown.