 Englander attended college in Arizona but returned to California without graduating in order to care for his ailing mother, who died of a brain tumor.In 1994, his uncle Michael, who Englander said was a father figure for him, was shot and killed in a gang-related robbery.Englander became a Los Angeles Police Department reservist in 2005 the same day his uncle was killed, Englander's older sister Natalie suffered an asthma attack and fell into a coma.