Behind the Badge
A memorial service is set for Tuesday to honor the two Palm Springs police officers killed Saturday while responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Palm Springs police announced today services of Officers Lesley Zerebny and Jose “Gil” Vega will be at 11 a.m. Oct. 18 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
Graveside honors for both officers will follow the service at the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Zerebny and Vega were killed in what authorities say was a planned attack on peace officers. They responded to reports of a domestic dispute when the 26-year-old suspect opened fired killing them and injuring a third officer.
Police arrested the suspect after a 12-hour standoff and charged him with two counts of murder of a peace officer. He was wearing soft body from and had several high-capacity magazines on him.
Zerebny ,27, was mother to a 4-month-old daughter and married to a Riverside sheriff’s deputy. She had been with Palm Springs PD for 18 months and recently had returned from maternity leave.
A Go Fund Me page in her name has raised nearly $91,000 to help her husband and daughter.
Vega, a 35-year veteran of the force, was expected to retire in December. The father of eight was not scheduled to work the day he was killed, but had taken an overtime shift to help a colleague.
The Convention Center is at 277 North Avenida Caballeros in Palm Springs, and the cemetery is at 82925 Avenue 52 in Coachella. The department will release more information about hotels and transportation at a later time.
