Slain Des Moines Sgt. Tony Beminio 'was always just smiling'

Editor's note: This story was originally published Nov. 2, 2016. 

Staff and former students at two Des Moines high schools remember Anthony "Tony" Beminio as the friendly officer who walked the halls of their schools with a smile on his face.

“It takes a special person to be a school resource officer," Roosevelt High School Principal Kevin Biggs said Wednesday afternoon.

School officials gathered in front of the high school to pay their respects to Beminio, a Des Moines police sergeant who was gunned down Wednesday morning while responding to the shooting of a fellow officer.

"It can try your patience, but, at the end of the day, they leave their door open for our students and they build relationships,” Biggs said.

Beminio, 38, was an 11-year Des Moines police veteran. He served in the department's traffic unit and as a detective before switching to uniform patrol when he was promoted to sergeant last year.

But before that, he was a school resource officer at Roosevelt and East high schools, where he patrolled the hallways daily, talking to students.

“A lot of people don’t realize how close we get to our resource officers," said Kathie Danielson, the Des Moines district's director of high schools. "They do become part of the school life and our family. So when staff find out about this tragedy, it hits them hard.”

She was the principal at Roosevelt High School when Beminio was hired.

"He just had a great relationship with all of the students," said Steve Foritano, a former Polk County prosecutor. One of his children attended Roosevelt during Beminio's tenure there. "(He) always had a big smile on his face. He was just a great guy.

"I think everybody is just shocked and heartbroken," he said.

Foritano also worked with Beminio on court cases during his time both with the traffic unit and as a detective.

"He was a great detective, very thorough. He was well-respected," said Foritano. "He was just very professional, very up-front.

"He was always just smiling."

Beminio was married, with three children.

"He was a great guy in this department. A good friend to a lot of us. A fantastic family man," Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said during a Wednesday morning news conference. "It's just really hard to lose Tony."

Beminio came from a law enforcement family.

His father, Frank Beminio, was a member of the Belmond (Iowa) Police Department for 17 years before retiring in 2014. He spent his last eight years as the department's chief, Belmond Mayor Al Mattison said.

Tony Beminio graduated from West High School in Iowa City in 1996. He was known as a talented athlete in high school and college.

Slain Iowa officer graduated from West High

Dan Dvorak, West High School's former assistant football coach, spent several hours each day during football season with Beminio, he said. He remembered him as an "incredible young man" who set a great example for younger students and "helped to put West High football on the map."

“There were kids that wanted to be the next Tony Beminio," Dvorak said.

The West High football team Friday will wear a decal on their helmets to honor Beminio during the state quarterfinal game at Prairie High in Cedar Rapids.

Randy Rogers, a former assistant wrestling coach at West High, said Beminio "was a great athlete, and a great teammate with the kids, and he was a very coachable kid. … He was really a very intense athlete. All the kids liked him. He got along with everybody.”

He was remembered fondly by Lora Friedrich, his former professor of sociology at Simpson College. She said in a statement that Beminio was the first student she worked with as an adviser.

"I started keeping food in my office because he was always hungry," she said. "The football coach once told me that if Tony's knee had not gotten wrecked in high school, he would have played pro ball. I love him, and we have stayed close over the years. … He was a great dad and a perfect cop. He never met a stranger or a foe."

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Beminio graduated from Simpson in 2001 with a degree in criminal justice. Justin Martin, the Urbandale police officer killed in Wednesday's attacks, also graduated from the Indianola college.

“The loss of any police officer in such a senseless act of violence is a tragedy,” Simpson President Jay Simmons said. “This is almost too much to bear. We all extend our deepest sympathy to the families of Anthony and Justin. We consider them part of our family, too.”

Beminio began his law enforcement career with the Indianola Police Department, where he worked from July 2001 to April 2005.

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The shootings Wednesday affect the entire Des Moines community, not just those who knew the police officers, Foritano said.

"We need the officers to be respected and supported …" Foritano said. "Tony was just a very well-respected, very well-liked officer, and he will be greatly missed."

The Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Indianola Record-Herald and the Register's Daniel P. Finney and MacKenzie Elmer contributed to this report.