Two Police Officers Killed In Palm Springs!
Two Palm Springs police officers were fatally shot and another wounded Saturday afternoon while responding to a domestic disturbance call, police said.
Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, more than 12hours after the shooting, the suspect was taken into custody, the Riverside County Sheriffs Department said.
In a sheriffsstatement early Sunday, the suspectwas identified as John Felix, 26, of Palm Springs, who was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The statement said he surrendered peacefully.
Felix will be booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on two counts of murder of a peace officer, the statement said.
Chief Bryan Reyes said a news conference on the arrestwill be held at 11 a.m.
The officers went to the scene in the 2700 block of Cypress Road shortly after noon, police said. They tried to make contact with the suspect, who threatened to shoot the officers through the front door.
They were responding to a simple family disturbance and [the gunman] elected to open fire, an emotional Reyes told reporters during an afternoon news conference.
Reyesidentified the two victims as Officer JoseGil" Vega, a 35-year veteran of the department who was due to retirein December,and Officer Lesley Zerebny, whois the mother of a 4-month-old. He said the third officer, who was being treated ata hospital, was doing well and was helping investigators.
The Palm Springs Police Department turned the investigation over to the Riverside County Sheriff"s Department, Reyes said.
Today Palm Springs lost two of its brave officers, Reyes said, his voice quivering. "They go out every day with their boots on the ground.They gave their all for you.
Late Saturday, policeused a remote-controlled robot to open the door to the suspects house.
Frances Serrano, who lives on Cypress Road, across the street from where the shooting took place, was coming out of her garage around noon Saturday when her neighbor came bursting out of his own garage.
The man sought Serranos attention.
He said, Help. I need help. My son is in the house, and hes crazy. He has a gun. Hes ready to shoot all the police, Serrano recalled the father saying.
The father was very nervous, Serrano said. He was afraid of his son.
Serrano, 65, said she called authorities, and as soon as she began walking back into her house, she heard gunshots, starting with a loud I mean really loud bang!
Law enforcement and the suspect appeared to be exchanging gunfire, she said.
There were police everywhere, Serrano said. I looked out the window and saw police with rifles.Serrano said she remembered her neighbors son, who she believed was in his mid-30s, as a very nice young man very polite.
Juan Graciano, 67, who lives a block away from the suspects residence, said he saw officers trying to revive Zerebny. He said he was out in the yard about 1 p.m. when he noticed a crowd gathering at the corner of Cypress and Delgado roads.
I saw a woman officer who had been laid down in the trunk of a police cruiser, he said. There were about four officers around her. I watched as they picked her up and laid her down on the street and began administering CPR. A few minutes later paramedics arrived and took her away.
By 5:50 p.m. with police on every street corner continuing their search, Serrano said she was really scared, and had locked her windows and doors.
Some are saying [the suspect] is still in the fathers house. Others say hes on the run, she said. I knew there were problems before between the father and this young man. But I never imagined he would do something like this. I dont want to believe it.
I feel so sad for the officers, she added. Its like a nightmare.
Georgie Edensaid she was outside doing yard workwith her son and her husband whenall of a sudden I hear this pow, pow, pow pow.
At firstIm thinking,perhaps it was party poppers in the neighbors garden or something, and my husbands like, Uh, thats gunfire get in the house.
Eden then heard several more rounds of gunfire that seemed to continue for 10 to 20 minutes, she said.
So we stayed indoors, she said, and it was kind of, pretty scary.
Nothing like thishas happened during the three years Eden has lived in Palm Springs, she said.
Its horrible to even think that officers are out there and very much at risk because of guns and people that have a lot of mental health issues, she said. Just being a human being, it [hits] close to home.
Lee Weigel, the city"s former police chief and a onetime city councilman, learned of the shooting while out of town Saturday at his sons baseball game.
Weigels friend, who coaches another baseball team, walked upsolemnly. At first, Weigel said, he heard that one officer had been shot. Before long, he learned it was three.
It makes you weak in the knees, he said.
The police department is relatively small and everyone knows one another, said Weigel, who worked in the department for 32 years.
City officials saidthe department is made up of 98 sworn officers. The last time an officer was killed in the line of duty was about five decades ago.
Its a family,Weigel said. This is the worst incident in the history of Palm Springs in terms of officer shootings.... This is shocking, a blow to the entire department and community.
Times staff writers Vives and Sahagun and staff photographer van der Brug reported from Palm Springs. Stevens and Gerber reported from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Richard Winton and Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
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UPDATES:
4:05 a.m.: Updated with the suspects name.
1 a.m.: Updated with the suspect taken into custody.
11:12 p.m.: This story was updated with new information from police.
8:40 p.m. This story has been updated with new witness accounts.
7:50 p.m.: This story has been updated with details from police and city officials.
6:17 p.m.: This story has been updated with new information from police.
5:35 p.m.: This story has been updated with new information from police.
4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction.
4 p.m.: This article was updated with new details throughout.
3:55 p.m. This article was updated with conditions of officers.
3:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new details from police about why officers arrived at the scene.
3:25 p.m.: The article was updated with reaction from a business owner and other edits.
3:10 p.m.: The article was updated throughout with more details.
This article was originally published at 2:35 p.m.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-palm-springs-shooting-20161008-snap-story.html
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