palm springs

Palm Springs Police Surprise Fallen Officer's Daughter

Several Palm Springs officers picked her up from home and took her to school.

Just two weeks after her police officer father was brutally slain while in the line of duty, 8-year-old Vanessa Vega got a special escort to school.

More than a dozen officers from the Palm Springs Police Department took her to school and posed for a picture with her and her classmates.

It was a bitter-sweet moment for the youngest daughter of Officer Jose Gilbert Vega, 63, killed Oct. 8 along with his partner, Officer Lesley Zerebny, 27. Officers Vega and Zerebny were gunned down after responding to a family disturbance call at a Palm Springs home.

Mourners from throughout California packed a convention center Tuesday in Palm Springs to honor the officers at a public memorial service.

Zerebny had been with the department for a year and a half and was married to a sheriff's deputy. She gave birth to a daughter four months ago and had just returned to duty from maternity leave.

Vega had been with the department for 35 years -- five years past his retirement eligibility -- and had planned to finish his career in December. He is survived by his wife and eight children.

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