Tony DelMoral (Photo provided by family)

A Sitka man died over the weekend after an accident at the city’s shooting range.

Police say it appears 50-year-old Tony DelMoral was holstering his handgun when it accidentally discharged. The accident happened around 2:20 p.m. Saturday.

Sitka police Detective Jason Sexton says no one witnessed the accident itself. But the range was busy, and bystanders quickly came to DelMoral’s aid.

“They did that through trying to make 911 phone calls, administering CPR, trying to stop the bleeding, and then, in the last attempt, actually loaded him up in a vehicle and drove him back to town as fast as they could while someone was administering CPR,” Sexton said. “All the persons at the scene who were involved made a very valiant attempt to try to save his life.”

The truck carrying DelMoral was met by police cars and an ambulance along Halibut Point Road. Sexton says emergency medical crews continued first aid efforts along the roadside, but DelMoral died before he could be transported to the hospital.

DelMoral’s family say they’re thankful to the bystanders and emergency personnel who tried to save his life. They describe DelMoral as a loving husband, father and coach, whose generosity and sense of humor were both limitless.

Click here for iFriendly audio.

An active member of St. Gregory’s Parish, DelMoral was also a longtime youth sports coach in Sitka. He ran an environmental contracting business called TCI and, in his spare time, enjoyed four-wheeling, playing the guitar and watching science specials on television.

But the first thing his daughters will tell you about is his cool factor.

“People hung out with us to hang out with our dad,” said daughter Brit Szymoniak.

Szymoniak and her sister, Lindsay DelMoral, say their father was an instant hit with their friends, even at the moments when he made them cringe. Lindsay remembers her father dropping her off at middle school in his workvan.

“And he pulled up, and rolled down the window, and was blasting Boston’s ‘More than a Feeling,’ and singing really loud, and screaming at me, and waving at me to have a great day, and did I remember my lunch,” she said. “I was so horrified that this was my dad, and people were watching me. Everyone else thought it was funny and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me.’ He loved to do stuff like that.”

Brit remembers the time her dad told her the family had won the lottery. She was in the third grade. A junk mail company had sent them a fake ring.

“I’m wearing it,” she says, holding up her right hand. “It’s a several-carat CZ. I was in third grade. My teacher called him and told him I’d told the class at show-and-tell that we’d won the lottery. He also told me the world was black and white until Ted Turner invented color.”

She bought that, too. Again, Lindsay DelMoral.

Lindsay: He would tell her these things, and then Brit would argue with people about it, because it was what my Dad said.

Brit: And my Dad knew everything.

Lindsay: Uh-huh.

Lindsay and Brit say that behind their father’s pranks was a man who was deeply committed to his church, his family and others. He would give generously when other people weren’t looking. And he and his wife, Angie, led marriage preparation classes at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church in Sitka. And he coached youth sports.

“He made us feel like we were amazing athletes,” Brit said. “But I think he made everybody on our team feel like that. He knew how to inspire a group of girls to play together really well, and we always had a really good time.”

Rafael Antonio DelMoral grew up in eastern Washington state. His daughters say he came to Sitka on vacation, with a one-way ticket. He got on a fishing boat for a while, and met Angie at St. Gregory’s.

Brit: They’re best friends. They are so in love.

Lindsay: Still. They just celebrated their 25th anniversary last June.

Lindsay says while their parents were out to dinner a couple weeks ago, someone else in the restaurant approached their table, and asked Angie how long she and Tony had been dating.

“They were just so shocked that someone who had been married that long could still look at each other, and be so in love, and just so happy,” Lindsay said.

Brit says her father was never shy about offering words of love to his family and people in his life.

“His death is a reminder to always tell the people that you love that you love them,” she said. “He did such a good job of it. I know he loved me. I have a lifetime of him telling me that.”

Tony DelMoral’s funeral is tentatively set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Centennial Hall. His daughters say it’s open to the public, and that already they’ve been overwhelmed by the support shown to the family, and the expressions of what their father meant to so many people.