The father of a Canadian killed in Thailand says he will remember his son as a hero who gave his life to save his friend.

 

Leo John Del Pinto, 24, died after he was shot in the face and chest by a plain-clothes police officer in Pai in northern Thailand.

 

Witnesses say Del Pinto was killed while defending his friend Carly Reisig of Chilliwack, B.C.

 

He was laid to rest on Thursday in Calgary.

 

Ernie Del Pinto told CTV's Canada AM on Friday he takes pride in the fact his son died standing up for a friend.

 

"It gives me a lot of comfort to know my son was a boy who would do something like this," he said.

 

"In our family we always taught him to protect his twin sisters. He didn't protect his twin sisters because they weren't there, but he protected someone he was really good friends with."

 

Del Pinto said he believes his son and Reisig were at a bar that he had raved about as a place where musicians from all over the world would gather to play music together.

 

The shooting occurred after they left, he said.

 

"I wouldn't say my son didn't drink, so maybe he had a little bit of beer, but after that they left and they were walking and apparently this man punched (Reisig) in the face, so my son reacted by pushing him and saying nobody punches this girl."

 

The man then pulled a gun, according to reports, and grappled with Del Pinto before shooting him in the chest and face, then shooting Reisig in the chest, before running away.

 

"I just want everyone to know that Leo saved my life by giving his own, and he's a hero in my mind," Reisig said recently from a hospital bed where she is recovering from the wound, just inches from her heart.

 

During his funeral service Thursday, Del Pinto's father, mother, grandmother and two sisters wept over his casket, draped in a white cloth before it was carried out of Calgary's Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.

 

About 600 people crowded into the church and stood outside on the lawn during the ceremony.

 

His father said his son would live on in his heart and he hoped he served as an example to other young people.

 

"I will remember my son as a hero, as a good, good man," Del Pinto said. "He's no longer a boy, he's a man. Happy, I'll never forget his happy face, his happy smile and I'll always have him in my heart and I hope other kids follow his example."