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Taylor's unexpected death, which was a few months away from the end of his tour and leaving 7 children and his wife Jennie, caused a wave of grief in Utah and on social media Saturday night.
On his 15th wedding anniversary last month, Taylor wrote an article on Facebook about his "rock star wife," who he said had been "a super-woman giving birth and raising seven children and having deployed four times in Iraq and Afghanistan. "
The Utah National Guard has neither publicly confirmed nor discussed the circumstances of Taylor's death, which were confirmed to CNN by a government official.
Republican Governor Gary Herbert and Major-General Jefferson S. Burton, Adjutant General of the National Guard, plan to hold a press conference Sunday at noon to discuss details of the incident. In a press release, the Utah National Guard said that an unidentified guard was killed in Kabul on Saturday in "an apparent attack attack" by an Afghan soldier. The incident is under investigation.
Initial reports indicate that the attacker was a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. The aggressor "was immediately killed by other Afghan forces," the statement said.
State and city leaders, including Republican Mia Love from Utah, and Spencer Cox, GOP governor, praised Taylor's service and courage Saturday night on social media, while his constituents released their memories of the mayor always available.
Friends described Taylor as a passionate and outgoing mayor who was always looking for new ways to serve his country and his state. When he was elected to the North Ogden City Council in 2009 and that he became mayor in 2013, he was determined to bring to his city the thriving economic growth that was occurring in other regions. from Utah and whose potential was untapped at the time. .
The Brigham Young University graduate returned to Afghanistan in January after completing two service missions during the war in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. For his fourth tour, he took a temporary leave from his mayor position.
Brent Chugg, who temporarily assumed the role of Deputy Mayor of North Ogden while Taylor was deployed, said Taylor was a "great patriot" who had "a great love for his country".
Cox, who became friends with Taylor while they were touring the "politics of rubber chicken policy" circuit of Utah, said Taylor's motivation for getting into politics was simple.
"He has always wanted to give back and make the world a better place," Cox said in a phone interview Saturday night. "He's just one of the good guys, who had an incredibly bright future ahead of him."
Cox noted that he "also cared deeply about the Afghan people and what he was trying to accomplish".
"In Afghanistan, he was able to share with his friends and his city, through social media, many of his adventures and what was going on there," Cox said. "Seeing this, not through the media, but through his own experiences, has really personalized it for many of us in this everlasting war we continue to lead.We forget the human nature of the war and he was able to bring us this house in a very personal, fun and powerful way. "
Taylor's latest Facebook post was inspired by the elections in Afghanistan, encouraging US voters to vote on Tuesday.
"As the United States prepares to vote in our own elections next week, I hope that everyone at home will exercise its precious right to vote," Taylor wrote. "And whether Republicans or Democrats win, we all remember that we have many more Americans who unite us than we divide." United, we stand, divided, we fall. "God bless America."
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