Man Who Killed Two Palm Springs Police Officers Sentenced to Death

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The man responsible for the shooting death of two Palm Springs police officers in 2016, was sentenced to death on Friday.

The Palm Springs police initially responded for a domestic violence report. When they arrived at the home in the 2700 block of North Cypress Road on October 8, 2016, at 12:10 p.m.

The suspect John Felix was inside the home which was later learned to be his mother’s home. The officers, Lesley Zerebny and Jose “Gil” Vega were attempting, along with other officers, to get Felix to exit the home to speak with them.

Rather than coming out of the home, he shot using an AR-15 through the front door, striking Officers Zerebny, Officer Vega and a third officer. All three were transported to the hospital, where Zerebny and Vega were pronounced deceased.

Officer Vega was a 35-year police veteran who planned on retiring in December 2016, and Officer Lesley Zerebny was a rookie police officer and mother of a four-month-old baby girl.