Fifteen names are now added to the memorial across from the Capitol - some from decades past, and some much more recent, including the two Palm Springs Police officers, Gil Vega and Lesley Zerebny, who were shot and killed in October, investigators have said, by a man who was a known gang member, previously arrested for fighting with police, and who reportedly told his father that same day that he wanted to kill cops.
Peace officers from around California gather to remember those who have died in the line of duty. Photo by Ryan Harris, KFBK
Palm Springs Police Chief, Bryan Reyes, said it is hard for their relatives and law enforcement families, and Chief Reyes had some words that drew sustained applause from those gathered. "For some, it puts into focus what really matters to us individually," Reyes said. "For others, it puts into focus the assembly bills and propositions responsible for the watering down of our California criminal justice system."
Reyes stood with the families of those fallen officers as they laid roses on the memorial, as did the leaders of the other departments, who came from all over the state to honor those who were taken from them in the line of duty.