One Year Later: Honoring fallen PSPD Officers Vega and Zerebny
No one spent more time with Palm Springs police officer Gil Vega than his wife of ten years and his eight-year-old daughter.
On the eve of the one year anniversary of his death, they spoke about the veteran police officer they called husband and father. Susana and Vanessa Vega have stayed out of the spotlight since Gil Vega was killed in the line of duty.
Check out more stories on Vega and Zerebny in our “In the Line of Duty” section
Eight-year-old Vanessa Vega brought thousands of uniformed mourners to tears last October.
In the year since she says the pain of losing her father has not changed.
Vanessa sat down CBS Local 2’s Brooke Beare, her mother Susana, and her stepsister Andrea at a Cathedral City park where her dad used to take her.
“I expected him to pass of age, not of an ambush attack,” Vanessa said.
Susana Vega says she wasn’t worried about her husband being 63 and working such a dangerous job.
I trusted him a lot, and I know he would not do something to risk his life and come back home,” Susana said.
Her husband could have spent the last year of his more than 30-year career with the Palm Springs Police Department working at the airport.
“He said I’m going to retire as a police officer, that’s what I love to do,” Susana said.
Weeks before his retirement, Officer Vega and his partner, rookie officer Lesley Zerebny were shot to death while responding to an altercation between family members at a home in Palm Springs.
“It was one of the worst things I’d ever heard in my entire life,” said Andrea Murray, Officer Vega’s step-daughter. “Having to hear my mom tell my little sister that her daddy wasn’t coming home, and to hear her ask why and not know why this why this is happening. There were no real words we could give her, it’s just senseless.”
Officer Vega’s police family has become their extended family. Walking Vanessa to school, accompanying them to memorial events, and dedications. Their own family is closer now than ever before.
“She’s become my best friend, my daughter, my playmate,”
Susana says her faith has brought her some peace and the family tells stories to keep her husband’s memory alive. “That way we’ll never forget him because he was a silly guy. I do remember that,” Susana said.
“Last year when I went to the mall, I said dad, carry me, and he said, soon you’re going to be carrying me,” Vanessa said. “I tried carrying him some time. (Vanessa Laughs) That was dad being silly, those are good memories.”
But memories don’t make a man materialize and Vanessa misses her dad.
“I would give up everything just to have him back. I would give up everything,” Susana said.
Vanessa says the memorials for her father have been hard because they are a reminder that he’s not with them anymore.
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
