Just two weeks after her police officer father was brutally slain while in the line of duty, 8-year-old Vanessa Vega got a special escort to school.
More than a dozen officers from the Palm Springs Police Department took her to school and posed for a picture with her and her classmates.
It was a bitter-sweet moment for the youngest daughter of Officer Jose Gilbert Vega, 63, killed Oct. 8 along with his partner, Officer Lesley Zerebny, 27. Officers Vega and Zerebny were gunned down after responding to a family disturbance call at a Palm Springs home.
Mourners from throughout California packed a convention center Tuesday in Palm Springs to honor the officers at a public memorial service.
Zerebny had been with the department for a year and a half and was married to a sheriff's deputy. She gave birth to a daughter four months ago and had just returned to duty from maternity leave.
Vega had been with the department for 35 years -- five years past his retirement eligibility -- and had planned to finish his career in December. He is survived by his wife and eight children.
