Procession held for Nanty Glo native, police officer killed in Texas last week

Cambria County, Pa. (WJAC) — A trail of law enforcement vehicles formed a procession through Cambria County on Friday morning, honoring 27-year-old Matthew Krupa who was killed in Texas last week.

Krupa, who was originally from Nanty Glo, was laid to rest at St. Charles Cemetery in Twin Rocks.

His sister, Brittany Russell, said that final tribute from his community is exactly what he would've wanted.

"You could know him for 5 minutes or 5 years, and he would treat you exactly the same. He was very caring, compassionate, and had a smile that lit up the room. He always looked at the positive things," she said.

Krupa died last week, while on route to his second day of work as a school resource officer in San Antonio.

His family says Matthew always set his goals high.

He landed law enforcement jobs in Portage, Cresson, Geistown, Saint Francis, and IUP before living out his childhood dream of becoming a police officer in Texas.

"Whenever he was a little boy, he always watched 'Walker, Texas Ranger.' That's one of my fond memories that I have: how he just loved that show. He always said, 'I want to go down to Texas and be a police officer,'" Brittany said.

Krupa leaves behind his wife and daughter, Mayleigh, who is just under one year old.

His family says Matthew was loved by all who knew him -- and even those who didn’t know him personally -- he had a large presence on the social media app TikTok with almost 300,000 followers.

But back home, he had a big tribute in his small town.

"On behalf of me and my family, I cannot extend a big enough thank you in how much we honor and respect that they came to do that for Matt," Brittany said.

Matthew eventually wanted to become a K-9 officer, according to his family -- so in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Johnstown Police K-9 Unit Fund.

Those who want to help can also donate to the family's GoFundMe account here.

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