Matt and Laurie Shahnavaz join

**Nigel** (0:00)
My name is Nigel. Jason Hamm are right over there with us, very special guests in studio.

**Jason Hamm** (0:07)
Friends of the show at this point, and I can't believe it's been a year since we've had them in studio. The Shahnavaz family is here. Matt and Laurie Shahnavaz.

**Matt Shahnavaz** (0:16)
Hey guys.

**Jason Hamm** (0:17)
They're joining us in studio. How are you?

**Matt Shahnavaz** (0:18)
Doing all right. Thanks for having us.

**Jason Hamm** (0:20)
And also joining us on the hotline here, we've got the representative from the Remember Officer NOAA Foundation. Liz Mize is on the hotline. Liz, are you with us?

**Liz Mize** (0:33)
I am.

**Jason Hamm** (0:34)
All right.

**Nigel** (0:34)
Hey, Liz.

**Jason Hamm** (0:35)
So we got a full house going on here, and it's because this Saturday, it's the annual car show to honor NOAA Shahnavaz. Now, Matt, we'll start with you.
I think most people know the story of NOAA by now. We tell it every year. This was just your all-American kid, American badass, serves his country, serves his community, ultimately lost his life in the line of duty, protecting the community. And this car show is kind of a little bit to honor NOAA. Tell us a little bit about NOAA.

**Matt Shahnavaz** (1:13)
Well, NOAA was, you know, he graduated high school and the first job he ever had directly out of high school was a job serving his country. He knew no job other than service.
He spent five years in the army, was an MP in the army, got out of the army, became an officer with the Elwood Police Department. And again, just that the heart of service is no other way to describe, describe it.

**Jason Hamm** (1:39)
And Laurie, I know we've kind of chatted on and off over the past year, your pursuit of justice for NOAA.
Sometimes it's not easy. Sometimes it takes really ridiculously long time. Where are we at in the process of bringing the human piece of excrement that took NOAA from us to justice?

**Laurie Shahnavaz** (2:01)
So last week, the judge ruled that the defendant is competent to stand trial and that his attorneys cannot withdraw from the case. So we are all systems go for early March trial.

**Jason Hamm** (2:14)
Has it been frustrating that it's taken so long? Like there's always another delay or some other hiccup along the way. Has that been frustrating?

**Laurie Shahnavaz** (2:22)
It's been frustrating because here we are to talk about the fifth annual car show.
He's been gone for four years. We still haven't had a trial yet. But on the other end of the token, I think it's important that we do it the right way and that there's no nothing is, you know, it needs to be a loctite airtight case and trial outcome.

**Jason Hamm** (2:43)
Absolutely.

**Nigel** (2:44)
Matt, like when Noah wanted to decided to say, hey, guys, mom, dad, I'm doing this. I'm going into a life of service. Was there? Because I have a 14 year old and a 12 year old. And at one point, my 14 year old has said to me, Dad, I want to be a police officer. My my late uncle was a state trooper, died in the line of duty.
And I whenever I hear him say that, I know he's 14 years old. He's a little guy. I have some hesitancy about it.

**Matt Shahnavaz** (3:17)
I had that same hesitancy as well.

**Nigel** (3:20)
And this was, my son's 14 He's not anywhere near as old of the ages we're talking yet.
But if that stays with him, I'm not going to be able to think about it. Right.

**Matt Shahnavaz** (3:31)
Does that make sense? What happened with us was he was probably a junior in high school whenever it became, you know, he was adamant that this was going to be his path. And I was still, you know, you got to go to college, you need to get a degree.

**Nigel** (3:45)
Yep.

**Matt Shahnavaz** (3:46)
If you want to do this, you can be going to the reserves. You know, you can still do kind of do both, but get an education and get a diploma. And that's where the direction I thought that we were going to go down. But then he later decided that, no, he wants to enlist in the Army. And whenever I first heard this, I...
It wasn't a pleasant week or two in our household. Laurie was 100% behind him and was a little bit upset with me.

**Nigel** (4:12)
It's just like one thing, one thing you were going, one thing you thought and boy, another thing came rushing down the path.