Final communications by fallen officer heard in trial of accused cop killer

Palm Springs police officers who survived an onslaught of more than 20 rounds fired while they responded to a domestic disturbance call are testifying today in the trial of a man accused of killing two of their colleagues during the 2016 shooting. Officer Jose ‘Gil’ Vega, 63, was fatally shot, along with rookie Officer Lesley Zerebny, 27.

Witness testimony in the case against accused cop killer John Hernandez Felix began for the day with former Palm Springs Police officer Abraham Vargas. He was on patrol the day of the shooting. He said it was a busy Saturday going from call to call. He got a call for “415 domestic,” or a disturbance call, and responded to the Felix home.

Vargas testified that prior to the day of the shooting, Officer Vega was Vargas’s field training officer. They had a “good bond.” He heard Vega call for additional units at the domestic disturbance and “knew something was a little different.” He said that was an unusual thing for Vega to do.

Special Section: Justice for the Fallen

Prosecutors played a dispatch recording in which jurors heard Officer Zerebny’s voice. As it started playing, some of her family members in attendance began crying.

Zerebny is heard saying that Felix is “being verbal” and “there’s nothing in his hands.” Zerebny is heard on the dispatch recording saying, “You can standby for now.”

Officer Vargas testified that he, another officer, Vega and Zerebny all responded and some of them were speaking to Felix’s parents in Spanish outside the home. He says Felix’s mom said he had a weapon, or in Spanish, “una arma.” It translates to any type – a knife, gun, etc.

Vargas said he was asking Felix’s mother what type of weapon her son had. He said she couldn’t get it out….and that’s when the shots started.

The prosecution then began playing the dispatch recording again.

“Shots fired! One officer down! Two officers down! Shots fired!”

“At least three officers hit!”

“One down!”

Vargas said multiple shots were fired through the wall, through the screen door, through the window. He says it sounded like it was from a rifle, and knew it wasn’t a handgun. From the shots, he couldn’t tell if it was semi- or fully-automatic.

Testimony continued with PSPD Officer Vargas on the stand, recalling his actions the day of the shooting. As the shots started being fired from inside the house, Vargas took cover on the right side of the house – next to the garage and driveway area.

He said Vega went down on the walkway leading up to the front door. Vargas saw him fall and start bleeding from the head. Vega was shooting toward the front door when he was struck.

“Officer Vega fell down – he was shot in the head,” Vargas said.

Vega hit the ground first – then Zerebny, Officer Vargas said. He described a “dead zone,” on the driveway and walkway up to the front door where there was nowhere to take cover. Zerebny and Vega both collapsed in the “dead zone.”

Vargas said he could see that Vega was bleeding badly from the head. He said his instincts kicked in. “That was my cue – I had to get my rifle.” Vargas said he knew his “little gun wasn’t going to do anything,” so he had to get back to his patrol car, around some bushes, to get his rifle. To get his rifle and avoid the “dead zone,” Vargas had to climb through a line of bushes between properties.

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Describing the moment he saw Officer Zerebny get shot, Vargas said he saw her cut across the driveway diagonally, running away from the shots being fired and trying to take cover near the police cars on the street. “She got shot in the back and she collapsed.”

Once he had his automatic rifle, Vargas said he started shooting toward the house. Another responding officer, Officer Burden, was already shooting from across the street. Vargas moved up the sidewalk adjacent to the patrol cars on the passenger side.

He then described the effort to get Vega and Zerebny off the ground and out of the “dead zone.” Vargas provided cover fire – shooting toward the area the shots were being fired from to get them to stop – while other officers worked to get Vega and Zerebny to medical help.

Vargas said an RSO deputy relieved him as CHP also responded. They switched out while a perimeter was being established.

Officer Vargas says he never saw the person shooting. “It was a coward move.”

Felix, who is in the courtroom through all of this testimony, looked down at that statement.

The defense began cross-examining Vargas. He was asked if he could see the person shooting inside, which he said he couldn’t. He heard someone inside shouting “gibberish” though. Defense Attorney John Dolan asked what he was yelling, but Vargas couldn’t tell.

Dolan tried to ask Vargas if he could tell if the person yelling (presumably Felix) was yelling angrily — but Vargas says he couldn’t tell the emotional tenor. Vargas said there were 10+ minutes of shooting. So long that he almost ran out of ammo.

As officers tried to extract Vega and Zerebny out of harm’s way, shooting from inside the house began again. Vargas was still providing cover fire.

The next witness called was PSPD officer Jeffrey Burton. He’s worked with PSPD since 2014. He was on patrol the day of the shooting, responding to another call with Vargas when he heard Vega was responding to a disturbance.

Over the radio, Officer Burton heard Zerebny ask for backup.

“The sound of her voice… it wasn’t her normal tone,” Burton said. “It just didn’t seem right.”

He heard Vega say over the radio someone was walking around inside the house yelling, cussing, and throwing things. Vega said he couldn’t see a weapon.

Once he arrived on scene, the four officers (Vega, Zerebny, Vargas and Burton) were all speaking to Felix’s parents outside the home.

Vega approached the screen door.

A voice inside said, “Donn’t do it, don’t do it!”

Then they started taking fire. Officer Burton said he could hear the “distinctly different” sound of rifle gunfire. He knew it wasn’t a handgun.

Testimony in the case against accused cop killer John Felix continued Monday after hearings concerning possible conflicts involving two alternate jurors.

The first woman had complimented deputy DA Michella Paradise, who is prosecuting this case, and said she is a great role model for girls. The judge asked her if the interaction would impact her ability to be fair and impartial to both sides, and she told the court it would not have an impact – she said both the defense and the prosecutors were impressive.

The second alternate recognized someone in the audience who is related to a victim of the case. They know each other from years ago, and have a “distant” connection. In both cases, the judge decided it is not warranted to need a new juror.

News Channel 3 reporter Jake Ingrassia is live tweeting inside the courtroom. Follow his tweets here.

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On Wednesday, opening statements set off a stream of witness testimony in the trial of 28-year-old John Hernandez Felix, who is facing murder and other charges for allegedly firing a AR-15 rifle at police officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call at the Felix family home in the 2700
block of Cypress Avenue on Oct. 8, 2016.

Vega, 63, was fatally shot, along with rookie Officer Lesley Zerebny, 27. Defense attorney John Dolan argued that Felix had no intent to kill anyone, with his history of family neglect, low educational achievements, drug abuse and an intellectual disability showing he did not act out of premeditation.

Rather, the surrounding circumstances show that “factually, this is immature, angry, emotional, impulsive behavior,” Dolan said. But Deputy District Attorney Manny Bustamante said there is clear evidence of premeditation and intent. He pointed to the initial 911 call made by Felix’s mother, saying the call includes audio of the defendant helping his mother give the dispatcher the family’s address, “so she could tell 911 where the officers should go to.”

Bustamante said Felix fired 21 shots through the front door and drywall of the home. Ten of those shots hit either officers or their vehicles, Bustamante said. Felix, who was wearing body armor, was arrested after a 12-hour standoff, and while being taken into custody, he told arresting officers,

“I’ve seen your faces. You’re next,” Bustamante said Felix to arresting officers.

The following day Felix’s mother took the stand to testify. Margarita Felix, who called the police to her home, said she and her husband had known Officer Gilbert Vega since the family moved into their home on Cypress Avenue 27 years ago. She also said that her husband called the officer frequently to help cope with their son’s behavioral issues.

While she did not specify the exact nature of their relationship, she said her son, 28-year-old John Hernandez Felix, “respected” Vega.

Speaking through an interpreter, Margarita Felix broke down in tears at times when Deputy District Attorney Michelle Paradise questioned her memories of not only the shooting, but the 911 call that prompted officers to respond to the scene. The woman appeared particularly hesitant to say whether
she knew her son had a gun when the 911 call was made.

After a several-minute exchange, Paradise finally asked Margarita Felix if she was worried about public backlash for knowing about the gun when summoning police, and the woman responded, “Could be. And, they would have their reasons.”

Margarita Felix said she did not say anything to officers about a gun, but did tell them “there’s some danger.”

Again speaking through tears, she described her discussions with responding officers outside the home while her son was holed up inside. She said Zerebny asked her for a key to the locked screen door of the home, but she grabbed the officer’s hand and begged her not to approach the house because of
the danger, saying, “Please, no.”

John Hernandez Felix is facing a possible death sentence if convicted. He is charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, with special circumstance allegations of killing police officers and committing multiple murders.

Special Section: In the Line of Duty

Vega and Zerebny were the first Palm Springs police officers to be killed in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 1962, when Officer Lyle Wayne Larrabee died during a vehicle pursuit. The only other death in the department was that of Officer Gale Gene Eldridge, who was fatally shot on Jan. 18, 1961, while
investigating an armed robbery.

Vega had been with the department 35 years — five years past his retirement eligibility — and had planned to retire in 2018. He had eight children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Zerebny had been with the department for 18 months and had just returned to duty following maternity leave, having given birth to a daughter, Cora, four months before her death.

Felix has a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, for which he served time in state prison.