Retired Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Tim Strohmeyer holds the bullet- resistant vest he wore on Dec. 21, 2012, while speaking about that day’s events on Thursday at the Tyrone Area Chamber of Commerce’s breakfast meeting at Family Chill and Grill. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

TYRONE — Retired State Police trooper and Army veteran Tim Strohmeyer is “the boy who wasn’t expected to do great things,” a title given to him in an email exchange with Rose Black, the Tyrone Area Chamber of Commerce’s executive director.

While speaking at the chamber’s breakfast meeting Thursday, Strohmeyer shared the story of how he wouldn’t have grown up to become a hero if not for the mentorship and loving care he received from the parents of his friends, who were his heroes while growing up in a dysfunctional family.

Strohmeyer described his father as a former car salesman who had an anger issue and his mother as someone who slept a lot, was paranoid about their neighbors and projected a lot of her anxiety onto him as a child.

“A 10-year-old should not be worried about where their next meal is coming from, whether they’re going to be evicted, whether their car is going to be repossessed (or) whether the neighbors are forming a cabal to get us in trouble for something,” Strohmeyer said.

When he was 7 years old, Strohmeyer’s parents divorced. Although he lived with his mother, Strohmeyer often spent time at his friend Scott Eckberg’s house, where his friend’s parents — Ed and Sonja Eckberg — showed him a different family dynamic; one of love, caring and support.

The Eckbergs took him on family trips and always welcomed him into their house, Strohmeyer said, noting he was often there from Friday after school until Sunday night and spent most of his summers with them.

“It was through their love and guidance that I became the person that I am,” Strohmeyer said of the Eckbergs.

After graduating from Tyrone Area High School in 1990, Strohmeyer enlisted in the Army to earn money for college. Strohmeyer was in basic training when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, he said.

In fact, the day he graduated from advanced individual training to be a telecommunications center operator — Jan. 17, 1991 — Operation Desert Storm started and about half his class was sent straight to Saudi Arabia, Strohmeyer said.

After the Army, Strohmeyer enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police, and throughout his career, earned eight troop commander commendations, some of which were for saving people’s lives.

While patrolling in Huntingdon one day, Strohmeyer came across a parked car in an abandoned elementary school and found a man with a shotgun pointed at his chest, making a suicide message with a microcassette recorder.

Strohmeyer was able to separate the man from the gun and his vehicle and persuaded him to sign himself into a hospital rather than being involuntarily committed, which allowed the man to keep his firearms.

The man went on to become a sheriff’s deputy and served his community for many years, Strohmeyer said.

What became a defining moment in his career started on an ordinary day. It was Dec. 21, 2012, and Strohmeyer was sitting at the barracks when he heard an announcement of shots fired in Frankstown Township. That incident involved Jeffrey Lee Michael, a truck driver who developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of two fatal incidents, according to Strohmeyer.

Michael reportedly went on a shooting spree, killing several individuals and injuring several police officers, including Strohmeyer, who was struck by gunfire in his bullet-resistant vest and his wrist.

Strohmeyer, who fired the fatal shot that brought Michael down, said he wouldn’t have been in the position to help those in need if it weren’t for the love of the Eckbergs and people like Rob and Eddie Sharer, Gerry and Sher Patton and Jay and Lois Loftus.

Strohmeyer closed his presentation by asking chamber members in attendance to be the best versions of themselves and open their hearts to people in need, whether it’s children avoiding chaos or someone looking to start a business or get involved with civic activities.

“The people across the street deserve the same love and attention as your neighbors do,” Strohmeyer said. “Be the person for someone that helps them achieve their goals and (find) joy in life. Essentially, that’s my message.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.