‘There was gunfire coming toward me,’ PSPD Sgt. testifies in Felix trial

Palm Springs Police Department Sergeant Flinn took the stand Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of fatally shooting two Palm Springs Police Department officers in 2016.

It was the second consecutive day with testimony from PSPD officers who were on scene when Officer Jose ‘Gil’ Vega and Officer Lesley Zerebny were fatally shot while responding to a domestic disturbance call at the family home of John Hernandez Felix on October 8, 2016.
Opening statements began on Wednesday in the trial of the 28-year-old, who is facing murder and other charges for allegedly firing an AR-15 rifle at police officers who responded to the residence on the 2700 block of Cypress Avenue.

PSPD Sgt. Flinn was the first to take the stand Tuesday; he was parked across the street from the Felix residence on the day of the shooting. Flinn recounted the moments when gunfire erupted from the home through the moments that Zerebny and Vega, both suffering from gunshot wounds, were pulled from the line of fire.

Special Section: Justice for the Fallen

He heard Ofc. Burton yelling that they needed to get Zerebny — but he couldn’t see Zerebny or Vega, who were both already down at the time. He felt pinned behind his patrol car across the street.

“I was stuck there feeling like I was targeted.”
“It felt obvious there was gunfire coming toward me,” Sgt. Flinn said.

He ran across the street to Officer Burton, where he felt it was more safe “than being on my island.”

From his new vantage point, he could see Vega laying on his back. He remembers Vega moving his forearm back and forth toward his head and face. “So I knew he was alive.” He saw Vega’s handgun on the ground though… “I knew he was incapacitated.”

Flinn said Burton told him he had been shot – he thinks in his right leg. Burton lifted his pant leg and Flinn told him to get to the medics.

He says Burton told him, “I’m staying in the game. I’m staying. I’m not leaving you Sarg.”

“I couldn’t watch Vega just laying in the street.” He told Burton to cover fire at the house to make it more difficult for the shooter to get an accurate shot from inside. They needed to get Vega to safety.

Flinn ran up to Vega and when he looked at him, he didn’t look the same. “I knew it was him, but couldn’t recognize him.” There was blood pooling around his eye sockets, he said. Flinn knew Vega had been shot but wasn’t sure where.

He told him, “We’re getting you out of here.”

Flinn grabbed Vega and tried to pull him, but his grip was slipping from the blood that covered him. Officer Serrano helped pull him back, and Flinn knew they needed a mobile car to get Vega to safety. Just then, he saw lights coming down the street – it was Officer Etchason.

Flinn repeatedly called Etchason his “angel” because it seemed like every time he turned around, Etchason was coming as relief.

Serrano, who was just more than two months into training, wasn’t well-practiced on an “officer rescue.” It was difficult to load Vega into the back of the car. Flinn took Vega’s baton off his belt so it wouldn’t catch on the patrol car door. He, Serrano and Etchason all pushed Vega into the car. “It’s not as easy as it looks.” Vega’s feet were getting stuck – but they slammed the door. They had to get him out of there. Etchason took off fast through the gunfire. Flinn said, “I knew they were safe.”

During Vega’s rescue, Flinn saw Zerebny down for the first time.

“And I knew we had to get her next.”

Flinn was wiping tears from his eyes on the stand during his testimony.

“It seemed like seconds but it had to be minutes.” He describes time feeling warped through these rescues. He was frustrated he couldn’t release his rifle from his car. It was brand new, top of the line tactical gear they had just acquired two weeks ago. Vargas gave his to Flinn.

However, he told Flinn the rifle was almost out of ammo. This all took place as they were taking cover on the drivers side of police cars in the street.

They began developing a plan to rescue Zerebny. “We were very cohesive.” They needed a rescue car – and “my angel Etch” came.

Flinn saw the police lights coming. Etchason drove his patrol unit over a neighbor’s front lawn by a mailbox to provide cover from the gunfire while they retrieved Zerebny. Flinn said Etchason pulled the car in there perfectly.

Flinn was kneeling down over the hood of the car with his rifle to keep the other officers covered. He never saw the person firing inside, but saw movement in one of the windows next to the front door.

“I was waiting with my finger on the trigger…” but he never fired his weapon.

Zerebny was down between two patrol cars in the street. They blocked her using Etchason’s patrol car on the grass – putting the vehicle in between Zerebny and the gunfire. Flinn said he couldn’t look at Zerebny because he had to keep focus on the house. His priority was covering the house, and stopping a threat if it arose to protect his officers. Meanwhile, the other officers worked on moving Zerebny into the car.

“I just remember seeing (Zerebny’s) legs hanging out of the trunk… and I thought, ‘This is screwed up.’ An officer hanging out of the trunk. But I knew she was safe.”

Zerebny’s family all tearing up through this testimony. Flinn was crying on the stand too.
Once she was in, Flinn said Etchason “gunned it” in *reverse* going straight back. “I knew she was out of there…”

“I just felt like she wasn’t with us anymore. But I didn’t know. There was still hope.”

Burton had not tended to his gunshot wound yet. Flinn told him he needed to get out of there, and this time he listened. Other police forces started showing up, including units from Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs. Officers formed a perimeter around the house.

“My angel showed up again,” Flinn said. Etchason was back.

Jake Ingrassia is in court today covering the fourth day of the trial – follow his notes from court below:

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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.

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.

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.

Special Section: In the Line of Duty

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.