Ryan Nettleton was serving his second tour in Iraq when he learned his police officer brother Trevor had been shot and killed Thursday in Las Vegas.
Without sleeping or showering, the 26-year-old specialist from Tacoma flew to Kuwait, then Washington, D.C., then Washington state.
Upon landing Saturday, he headed straight to Fort Lewis to pick up his dress blues so he could honor the older brother who inspired him to join the military.
Ryan Nettleton will wear his formal uniform Wednesday at a Mass for Trevor in Las Vegas. Family members rallied to raise money for him to fly to Nevada this afternoon.
"We need to pay our respects," he said in an interview Saturday night. "Trevor said, 'Family is everything,' and he carried that out to the last minute of his life."
A three-year veteran of Las Vegas Metro Police and a former Marine, Trevor Nettleton, 30, was killed in his garage during a botched robbery. Police are holding two teens and a 20-year-old man on charges of suspicion of murder and attempted robbery.
Trevor Nettleton left behind a wife, Danielle; and two young children, Quinn and Tanner.
"We come from a family of service members," Ryan Nettleton said.
The brothers grew up in Yakima and Tacoma, with parents in the Washington State Patrol.
"When we were kids, we talked about being police officers," Ryan Nettleton said, adding that the idea was to get military training so they could better serve as police officers.
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