End of Watch Memorial for Palm Springs officers Vega and Zerebny

[Artful]

Memorial to be held for slain Palm Springs officers

October 17, 2016



PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of people are expected at a memorial service for two California police officers shot to death when responding to a domestic disturbance call at the home of the family of an ex-convict.

Palm Springs officers Jose "Gil" Vega and Lesley Zerebny are being honored at the gathering Tuesday at the city's convention center, before being laid to rest.

Gov. Jerry Brown was to attend the service, his office said. At least 10,000 people were expected to be there, said James Canfield, the convention center's executive director.

Authorities say the officers were killed Oct. 8 when 26-year-old gang member John Felix opened fire on them with an assault rifle through a metal screen door.

The deaths of 63-year-old Vega and 27-year-old Zerebny rocked the tight-knit community 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Residents of the desert city of 47,000 have left scores of bouquets, balloons and notes outside the police station and have sold T-shirts to raise money for the officers' families.

They have also collected donated baby items for the family of Zerebny, who had recently returned from maternity leave after giving birth to a now-4-month-old daughter. Vega, a father of eight, was a 35-year veteran who was preparing to retire.

Mona Lea, 81, said she lined up with many others at a drive-thru donation line set up last week outside City Hall. She had met Zerebny before, and was torn up by the loss.
"I have never been involved in anything like this," Lea, who has lived in Palm Springs more than three decades, said of the outpouring of support. "It is a small community, and it is hurt."

Felix has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. He is being held without bail and could face the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek it.

Authorities say Felix ambushed the officers and was intent on killing police.

It has been tense year for police as officers have been shot to death in other cities including Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Palm Springs shooting occurred just three days after a popular Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant was shot and killed in the high desert city of Lancaster while answering a burglary call.

And it occurred in a resort town known as warm and welcoming to tourists, retirees and the gay and lesbian communities.

Robin Costello, whose husband is a Palm Springs police officer, said she has sold thousands of T-shirts honoring the fallen officers since they were donated last week to help Vega's and Zerebny's families. She said the community has always been close but she was struck by the support at last week's fundraiser.

"Kids were bringing piggy banks," she said. "I felt so much love. There was a line of cars around City Hall all day."

[Artful]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/42f0db0...gh-breast.html

Mothers donate enough breast milk to feed a slain police officer’s infant for a year

BY LISA GUTIERREZ
lgutierrez@kcstar.com

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Rookie police officer Lesley Zerebny cut her maternity leave short after having her first baby to help out at the Palm Springs Police Department, where she’d only worked for a year and a half.
On October 8, she and two other officers responded to a domestic disturbance call. A suspect opened fire on them.
Zerebny, who was 27, and officer Jose Gilbert Vega, 63, who was due to retire in two months, were killed. They were honored at a memorial service on Tuesday, the first officers in the department to die in the line of duty since 1962.
Zerebny left behind a husband, who is a sheriff’s deputy, and her four-month-old daughter Cora.
The news of her death struck particularly close to home for one local mother, who realized that baby Cora might need breast milk. So she contacted Zerebny’s family about donating some — and an entire campaign took off to help the baby.
Claudine Wong of KTVU in San Francisco chronicled what happened next.
In just 24 hours, Inside Edition reported, enough moms had donated enough breast milk — 500 ounces — to feed Cora for the next month. Within a week, the family received enough breast milk to last a year.
The milk, plenty to help the baby transition from breast milk to formula, will be tested and screened before she receives it.



The Palm Springs Police Department announced on its Facebook page it has stopped accepting breast milk donations for baby Cora, but instead are asking mothers to donate to local milk banks in Zerebny's name.


The mother who started the campaign told Wong that she was humbled by the outpouring and “just wanted to do a good thing in a bad situation.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Ashley and the other moms who donated are nothing short of saints and should be given all the praise in the world,” Wong wrote.
“When you hear of a tragedy like this, you want to do something — anything — to ease the pain for the family and help them rebuild their lives with love and care. These moms found a way to harness their mothering spirits (and their breast milk!) to do just that.
“This is not about breast milk or formula, it’s about the human heart and about the desire and the capacity of people to give.”
John Hernandez Felix, 26, faces two counts of murder in the police slayings, NBC Los Angeles reported.
At a community vigil for her sister over the weekend, Britta Boyer said Zerebny loved her job.
“She was meant to be a police officer and you can't go back and wish something different because she was truly happy,” Boyer said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article108992162.html#storylink=cpy