Blast kills 2 Marines from Yorba Linda in Afghanistan

Two Marines from Yorba Linda, one of them a Los Angeles police SWAT team member, were killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan this week, family members said today.

Marine Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni, 19, and Sgt. Major Robert J. Cottle, 45, both served in a reserve Marine tank unit based at Camp Pendleton, and died in southern Helmand Province.

Centanni is the son of a Santa Ana police gang squad sergeant, and Cottle was a SWAT officer assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's elite Metropolitan Division, the LAPD confirmed.

Cottle is the first LAPD officer to be killed in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

Family members were informed of the deaths Wednesday, and said it was apparently a coincidence that two men from the same Orange County town were killed in the same attack.

The Marine Corps has not released official information about the attack.

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said he had known Cottle -- known as "R.J.'' to his friends -- for 20 years, and was "deeply saddened'' by his death.

"He is a fine man and a great example of the best LAPD has to offer,'' Beck said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Cottle "will eternally remain a part of this department. His unwavering dedication to public service will undoubtedly live on as an example to future generations of officers.''

Cottle's father, Kenneth A. Cottle of Villa Park, said the officer had been due back from his tour of duty at the end of May, and his wife Emily serves in the Navy in Hawaii. The two married about a year ago and have an 8-month-old daughter, Kaila Jane.

Centanni also had local police ties, as the young Marine's father, Sgt. Jon Centanni, serves in the Santa Ana Police Department's gang unit, said Santa Ana police Detective Jose Becerra, a longtime family friend.

Kenneth Cottle, himself an Air Force veteran, recalled that his son was so eager to be a Marine that he tried to enlist when he was 17, but had to wait another year.

When the younger Cottle was 16, a friend of his father's, who served in the Marine Corps for 30 years, told him about a summer camp in Texas run by "old school'' Marines.

"So Robert asked to go,'' his father recalled. "I said, `They'll shave your head and they won't take any crap at all. And don't call me saying you want to come home -- you're going to be there the whole two weeks.'''

Right away, he said, his son gave some guff to one of the officers at the camp to see what he could get away with.

"My friend told him these are old, mean Marines who run this camp, and if you flip them off you're going to be in punishment drill. Sure as hell, as soon as he got there, he flipped someone off,'' the elder Cottle said.

"But he thrived on it and asked to go the next summer.''

Robert Cottle enjoyed the discipline of the military and fit well with the Los Angeles Police Department, rising up the ranks to join the SWAT team.

Cottle left active Marine duty after seven years in 1990, when he joined the LAPD. He wanted to return to active duty to fight in Afghanistan, his father said.

Centanni joined the Marines right out of high school and aspired to be a cop just like his father, Becerra said.

Becerra, who thought of the young man like a nephew, recounted that when Centanni was 17 years old, he stayed close to Becerra as his "honorary'' uncle recuperated from surgery.

"He wouldn't leave my side,'' Becerra said. "I said, `Go, do what you need to do. It's summertime.' But he wouldn't leave until my wife came home.''

The "very charismatic'' jock loved all sports, but did best playing football at Esperanza High School, Becerra said. He was not a starter, but his coaches loved his work ethic, Becerra said.

"He was a hard worker, which didn't surprise me. He was one of the hardest-working on the team,'' Becerra said.