Slain state trooper, beloved and mourned by Delaware Catholics, laid to rest

NEWARK, Del. (OSV News) — Those who knew slain Delaware State Trooper Matthew T. “Ty” Snook remembered him as a quiet leader who dedicated his life to serving others.

Corporal Snook, a 2009 graduate of St. Mark’s High School, was shot and killed as he worked an overtime assignment at the Division of Motor Vehicles branch in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 23. He was remembered Jan. 5 at a service at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware in Newark that brought an outpouring of supporters from law enforcement and the community.

Hundreds of law enforcement vehicles from every corner of Delaware and neighboring states, and from at least as far as Rhode Island, Iowa and Michigan, processed to the Carpenter Center before dawn, with lights flashing.

Snook’s body arrived behind an honor guard of police motorcycles from agencies from around the Mid-Atlantic region, including New York City, Philadelphia and Richmond, Va. After the hearse stopped, six troopers escorted the casket into the building, with Snook’s widow, Lauren, his parents Matthew and Karen, and other family members and friends following.

A three-hour public visitation brought thousands to Newark, Del., including the St. Mark’s wrestling team and school administrators. Snook was a state champion wrestler for the Spartans and attended the University of Maryland on a wrestling scholarship.

At the service, which was livestreamed, Bishop William E. Koenig of the Diocese of Wilmington read the Prayer for Peace attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Father William Cocco, a former police officer and current state police chaplain, fought back tears as he read from Scripture.

“When sorrow feels overwhelming, remind us that your love is stronger than death, and your mercy deeper than our pain,” Father Cocco said.

Dan Swasey, St. Mark’s athletic director who was the officer’s physical education teacher, recalled Snook as an excellent student who was on the quiet side.

“He was respectful of all his teachers and all his classmates, but when he hit that mat, he was tough,” Swasey told The Dialog, the newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington. “He was a really, really tough wrestler.”

Snook also played football for the Spartans for a season before turning his attention exclusively to wrestling. John Wilson was his football coach and a faculty member at St. Mark’s.

“Just a quiet kid. Kept to himself,” Wilson, now the athletic director and football coach at St. Georges Technical High School, told The Dialog. “He always treated you with respect, treated his teammates with respect.”

One of those teammates, Rob DeMasi, had known Snook since they were toddlers. Snook “came out of his shell” as a junior and senior at St. Mark’s, said DeMasi, a former administrator at his alma mater before becoming president of Holy Cross High School in Delran, New Jersey. At the various vigils held in the weeks since Snook’s death, the community has gotten to know the person DeMasi had known his entire life.

“He was a guy that naturally lived to support people,” he told The Dialog. “He was someone who was very authentic, very genuine. … he always brought positive psychology to everyone. So, even if it was a bad situation or a good situation, no matter what it was, he always would see the best in somebody and for somebody.”

Snook supported DeMasi in a concrete way while at Maryland. DeMasi started the Muscle Movement Foundation after being diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune disease, while in high school. Snook and his Maryland teammates welcomed a young man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy to one of their matches. They wore shirts reading “Pin Muscle Disease” for the match and made DeMasi the honorary captain.

Snook and his wife, a 2012 graduate of St. Elizabeth High School, have a 1-year-old daughter, Letty. DeMasi said he didn’t know how the couple met, but he could see the difference once they got together.

“When he met Lauren, he just had the biggest smile. He just seemed the happiest in his life right now,” DeMasi said.

“He was a provider. He was happy with his life, happy with his wife, adored his baby girl, Letty, and had aspirations of having more children as well,” he said.

Snook was a pre-med major at Maryland, and DeMasi said he had intentions of becoming a dentist. In 2015, however, he entered the Delaware State Police. In his decade in law enforcement, he served as a field training officer. On the day he was killed, he was working an overtime shift before a scheduled week of vacation with his family.

His decision to enter public service was not a surprise to those who knew him.

“You could see that he was going to be in some role where he was going to help people and help his community,” Swasey said.

“He was just that type of person,” Wilson added.

Swasey was not surprised by the public reaction across the state.

“It speaks to the integrity of his personality and how well-liked he was and how respected he was in his profession,” he said. “That just speaks to the community that Delaware is. They rally behind everyone and rally behind the Delaware state troopers.”

Various speakers addressed the crowd inside the Carpenter Center. After the memorial, a 21-gun salute filled the building, and an aviation flyover was held as the body was returned to the hearse. A riderless horse escorted the procession to a cemetery for a private burial.

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