CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Thomas Yatsko spent the most recent winter storm shoveling his neighbors' driveways and helping homeless people.

He worked full-time at the Dunkin' Donuts on Mayfield Road in South Euclid. There, a few days ago, he noticed a homeless man walk into the store without shoes. He watched the man count pennies to buy a single donut. The man came up short, so Yatsko wrapped up six donuts for him, free of charge.

"He always would do that for people who didn't have money," his mother, Melissa Yatsko said. "He told me that day 'these people come in and they're so miserable and I just want to make them smile.'"

Melissa Yatsko said she was stunned on Tuesday when she learned for the first time that her 21-year-old son was shot and killed Saturday by an off-duty police officer working security at the Corner Alley bowling alley and bar in University Circle.

She said no one had contacted her until news reporters began calling her Tuesday morning.

Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said officers tried to contact Thomas Yatsko's father, who does not live with Melissa Yatsko, several times and left a note on his father's house in Eastlake. Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner spokesman Christopher Harris said they were able to get in touch with a family member until Tuesday.

Thomas Yatsko, who turned 21 years old less than two moths ago, graduated from Brush High School and had worked at Dunkin' Donuts both during and after high school. Regular customers often asked for him by name, his mother said.

He briefly stopped working there in order to take a job at PCC Airfoil in Mentor, where he inspected the metal used to make industrial gas turbines. But his car broke down and he could no longer drive to work.

He went back to Dunkin' Donuts, with a promise from PCC that he'd get his job back when he was able to get reliable transportation, his mother said.

"They loved him there," she said.

She said she promised to match dollar-for-dollar anything he saved to spend on a car.

When he wasn't working, he shoveled snow off the driveways and sidewalks for his neighbors in South Euclid, his mother said.

"Everyone knows him around here," she said.

Melissa Yatsko also said her oldest son was a father-figure to his two younger brothers, Anthony, 17, and Tyler, 16. He encouraged both to go to college after they finished high school.

"He was a good mentor," Anthony said. "He was hard on us. He always told us 'don't make mistakes.'"

Thomas Yatsko's grandfather, Robert Anderson, said his grandson called him regularly and that they'd have long chats about his future.

"I loved him and I'll miss him terribly," Anderson said.

Melissa Yatsko said he teased her on Saturday about her favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would play the next day. Later he left and said he was meeting friends to watch some of the NFL playoff games.

Yatsko said she didn't think anything was wrong when he didn't come home. He often spent time at his girlfriend's house.

"I just don't understand," she said.

Thomas Yatsko had no local criminal history and his mother and grandfather said he never was a troublemaker in school or otherwise.

Cleveland police said that he got into a fight about 11 p.m. Saturday at the Corner Alley. The brawlers were kicked out of the bar, including Yatsko, police said.

Yatsko, however, returned and attacked Sgt. Dean Graziolli, who pulled out his gun and shot Yatsko, according to police. He died later at the nearby University Hospitals. A witness told cleveland.com he heard two gunshots.

A witness who called 911 from the bar told dispatchers that she saw Yatsko and his friend fighting, and that they were both got kicked out of the bar. Graziolli led them out. One of the two friends who was kicked out pleaded with the officer to "leave him alone" because he was cooperating, the caller told a dispatcher.

The dispatcher cut off the caller's description of what happened next, but said "he could have wrestled him to the ground." The caller, however, said that police officer got into a fight with a customer and shot him.

She said nurses who were at the bar tried to perform emergency treatment on Yatsko to get the bleeding to stop. The woman told the dispatcher that Yatsko was awake and breathing at the time, but was bleeding heavily.

Another caller told a dispatcher that the officer never tried to use his stun gun during the fight. Police officials have not said if Graziolli tried lesser uses of force before firing his gun.

Ciaccia said the preliminary investigation showed Yatsko did not have any weapons at the time he attacked Graziolli. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff is now investigating the shooting at the police department's request.

Graziolli suffered several injuries, including cuts and bruises on his head, face and body, according to the police supervisor's union. He is on administrative leave, and will be placed on light-duty in the department's gym until the sheriff's investigation is finished.

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