INDIANA, Pa. -- Officer Stephen Mayhle celebrated his 29th birthday on Friday, just hours before he was one of
three Pittsburgh police officers shot and killedwhile responding to a domestic call at a Stanton Heights home Saturday morning.
Watch Jen Miele's ReportA native of Indiana County, Mayhle dreamed of one day becoming a police officer.
He received a bachelor's degree in criminology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Dennis Giever, a former professor of Mayhle's, once asked his students to write their goals on a note card.
Mayhle's was to become a city police officer.
"When you know somebody, and you're holding something in your hand that you know they filled out, it makes a little bit more personal. I was already irritated, really very mad all weekend long about this, but now I'm probably hurt more than anything because this personalizes it," said Giever after finding the note card Mayhle wrote his goal on as a student nine years prior.
Giever described Mayhle as determined and eager to learn -- an academic standout.
Mayhle attended high school at Indiana Wesleyan outside of Clymer in Dixonville, Indiana County.
A sign reading "We Salute Our Fallen Hero Stephen Mayhle" hangs outside the school of just 30 students to honor the 1998 graduate.
Mayhle began dating his wife, a fellow Indiana Wesleyan student, in ninth grade.
The couple married in 2000 and had two daughters.
Flags in Indiana have been flying at half-staff to honor Mayhle.
The borough plans to send several police officers to Thursday's memorial services in Pittsburgh.
Private funeral services for Mayhle's family and friends will be held in Indiana on Saturday.
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