Local businesses remember PSPD Officers Vega and Zerebny
Next week marks the two year anniversary of the deadly shooting that took the lives of Palm Springs Police Officers Jose “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny. Local businesses are doing their part to make sure their memories are never forgotten.
The images of old glory are displayed prominently with a thin blue line marked in the middle, paying tribute to fallen officers.
“These are two very important people in our neighborhood that help keep us safe,” Jack Srebnik, a partner at Maracas Cantina, said.
It’s a memorial to PSPD Officers Vega and Zerebny, who were gunned down in October of 2016 responding to a domestic violence call. Officer Vega was a regular customer at jSrebnik’s restaurant.
“Gil….I see him at the bar at Maracas having a good time and being so nice and sweet to everybody. I’m upset I never met Lesley. I’m sure she’s the same thing,” he said.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1047992211596611584″,”author_name”:”Jeremy Chen”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Next week marks the two year anniversary of the deadly shooting that took the lives of &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmSpringsPD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@PalmSpringsPD&#lt;/a&#gt; Jose “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny. Local businesses in &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PalmSprings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#PalmSprings&#lt;/a&#gt; are doing their part to make sure their memories are never forgotten. &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmSpringsPOA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@PalmSpringsPOA&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/aZTV8Ha4YH”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/aZTV8Ha4YH&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Jeremy Chen (@JeremyChenKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1047992211596611584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;October 4, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
A special cocktail was commissioned at the restaurant, incorporating Officer Vega’s favorite tequila, with proceeds being donated in the fallen officer’s memories. Vega’s family gave their blessing.
“They all had the drink and they expressed their gratitude for what we’re doing,” Todd Flood, a partner at Maracas Cantina, said.
At Sherman’s deli and bakery thin blue line flags could be purchased in support of local police.
“This is a tight community. Anything we do to support our first responders, our police department is a privilege for us and respectfully, it’s the least we can do,” Jesse Moreno, general manager of Sherman’s Deli and Bakery, said.
According to the Palm Springs Police Officer’s Association (PSPOA) a total of $1.8 million have been donated for the Vega and Zerebny families over two years. The number is impressive, but Moreno understands the limits.
“Truthfully I don’t think there’s a sum of money that can replace those two selfless individuals,” he said.
For these businesses it’s the memories that will continue to live on.
A fundraiser is being held at Maracas Cantina, in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, The Slice in Rancho Mirage and JT’s Diner in Palm Desert to help raise money for the officers’ families. 30% of all orders will be donated to the PSPOA in the memories of Officers Vega and Zerebny.
Download the KESQ & CBS Local 2 app on iTunes or Google Play for up-to-the-minute breaking news alerts & more
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
Find us on Facebook: KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2
Follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates: @KESQ & @Local2
We’re on Instagram! @KESQ_News_Channel_3 & @CBSLocal2
Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
