Suspected cop killer arrested, Valley mourns officers killed in line of duty

An ex-con accused of killing two police officers remains jailed, as the Palm Springs Police Department deals with the loss of two police officers, a veteran training sergeant nearing retirement, and a young mother who had just returned to work as a rookie cop. A still-shaken police chief, Bryan Reyes, said today that the third officer who was shot Saturday was alert today, talking with investigators and may be released from a hospital soon.

“I have two officers that are now looking down at us from above, and our police department today is walking in the footsteps of two additional heroes,” the chief said with a strong voice, but through tears, at a midday news conference.

The suspect, John Hernandez Felix, 26, was flushed out of his house at 1a.m. Sunday by a Riverside County SWAT team. He was wearing soft body armor and carrying multiple magazines of bullets, but police said the investigation
was continuing and they would not release what type of weapons he had. Three officers were shot through a closed front door as they tried to get Felix to come outside at 1 p.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff’s department.

Police had responded to a call from a woman who said her adult son was causing a disturbance, according to police. Veteran training Sgt. Jose Gilbert Vega, 63, had been with the department for 35 years — five years past his retirement eligibility — and had planned to finish his career in December.

Also killed was a rookie police officer, Lesley Zerebny, 27, who had been with the department for a year-and-a-half. She had just returned to duty from maternity leave, after the birth of her daughter four months ago.

Felix, the accused shooter, had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to two years in prison for a 2009 incident that originally drew an attempted murder charge. Prosecutors also charged him with being a member of a criminal gang. After being released from that sentence, he was later accused of resisting arrest by Palm Springs police on the same street where he allegedly shot three officers responding to a family disturbance call Saturday.

At midmorning today, SWAT trucks and police tape still blocked off Cypress Avenue north of Racquet Club Drive. Detectives and criminologists were still at work, 20 hours after the gunfire. The suspect was arrested after a 12-hour standoff at 1 a.m. He was treated at a hospital for incidental injuries and then booked into the county jail in Riverside. No word on the date of his arraignment.