Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

A suspected Palm Springs cop killer was captured early Sunday morning after a SWAT team used tear gas to force him out of a barricaded house, pelted him with non-lethal rounds until he surrendered and took him into custody.

John Felix, 26, was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying several high-capacity magazines – but did not have a firearm – when he was taken into custody, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Felix shot three police officers who came to his doorstep on Saturday afternoon, killing two of them, police said. Felix then hid in his home for about 12 hours, ignoring officers' demands to surrender. At one point during the standoff, the suspect managed to stay hidden when a remote-control robot pried open the front door and searched the house.

Felix has been booked in the Riverside jail and will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder with several enhancements. He is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet decided if they will seek an execution, said District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

"I consider the brutal murder of a police officer to be a very heinous crime, so I will leave it at that," Hestrin said.

A third officer, who was wounded in the shooting but hasn't been identified, was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon and is doing well, Palm Springs police said in a statement. About 50 family members of the officers involved waited at Desert Regional Medical Center on Saturday, not far from the emergency room. Chaplains and social workers were also brought in for the families. Counselors are available at police headquarters for anyone who needs help, and a candlelight vigil will be held at the station at 5 p.m.

"Our community will get us through this," Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes said.

Felix, 26, was previously sentenced to four years in prison in an attempted gangland assassination. He was also the subject of a forceful arrest three years ago on the same doorstep where the Saturday shooting occurred. Investigators would not speak about Felix's criminal history during a news conference on Sunday, but confirmed he was "no stranger to the justice system."

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The attempted murder plot occurred in 2009, when Felix and another suspect managed to shoot their target but did not kill him. Court records don't provide details of the shooting, but they do show that Felix pleaded down to assault with a firearm and admitted a connection to a street gang. He was given a two-year prison sentence for the assault and an additional two years for his gang ties. His prison term would have expired in 2013.

Felix is now the suspect in the killing of two police officers – Jose Gilbert “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny – who were gunned down on the 2700 block of Cypress Road on Saturday afternoon. The officers were responding to a domestic disturbance at what appears to be Felix’s father’s house. They were shot through the front door, police have said.

Despite Felix’s arrest and the news conference, much of the basic information about the Saturday shooting has not been released. Authorities have not discussed Felix’s motive or any weapon that was used in the shooting. They have not said whether Felix was alone in the house or how he managed to hide in his house while it was being searched by a police robot. It is also unknown if the officers who responded to the initial domestic disturbance call were aware of Felix’s prior criminal history.

Vega was a 35-year veteran with eight children. Zerebny was a rookie who had just given birth to a daughter. As of Sunday afternoon, a GoFundMe account set up for Zerebny's family had collected more than $25,000 in donations.

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Reyes, the police chief, became choked up when he spoke about each of the fallen officers.

“To see (Zerebny) her laying down with her eyes open and to witness her husband in full Riverside County Sheriff’s uniform, because he’s a deputy sheriff, kiss her on the forehead for the last time – it’s tough,” Reyes said. “We’re going to rely on all of you to help us through this.”

Toward the end of the news conference, as Reyes fought back tears, an equally emotional Palm Springs police Sgt. William Hutchinson tapped the poster bearing Felix’s photo, knocking it to the ground.

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Felix's goal may have been to kill the officers all along. A neighbor, Frances Serrano, told The Desert Sun she spoke to Felix's father before the shooting, and he said his son had a gun and wanted to kill cops.

Soon after, she heard the gunshots.

Dozens of police then swarmed the neighborhood, blockading the surrounding streets. Officers with tactical gear and military-style rifles took defensive positions around the house, and an armored vehicle and a bomb-disposal robot were also brought to the scene. Felix was captured alive about 1 a.m.

Despite the length of the standoff, police did not release any description of their suspect until after he was in custody. Vasquez said Sunday that authorities felt such a release was unnecessary because the police perimeter was secure and investigators were "on the right track."

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Felix is being held without bail at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on two counts of suspicion of murder on a police officer and one count of attempted murder on a police officer. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday or Thursday.

Felix’s Facebook profile paints a disturbing picture. A photo on a public portion of his page shows a large gang tattoo on the back of his shaved head. In April, he posted a graphic video of a man shooting himself in the head while running from police officers. His last post came in June, when he posted a meme that takes on a whole new meaning after the shooting.

“People push you to your limits,” the meme read. “But when you finally explode and fight back, you are the mean one!”

Although Palm Springs has its own police department, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has assisted heavily with both the SWAT standoff and the shooting investigation. Sheriff Stan Sniff said the agencies work together “almost seamlessly” in the face of an emergency, which is not the case everywhere.

“I say that because many times in Riverside County, people don’t understand how lucky you are,” Sniff said. “Not every community in California, not every county in California, is so gifted.”

Three years ago, Felix was arrested by Palm Springs police in an event that began in an eerily similar manner to Saturday's shooting – a policeman on his doorstep.

In that case, a Palm Springs police detective came to the house on Cypress Road looking for Felix's brother. Felix cracked open the front door, and the detective recognized him as a parolee, so he demanded Felix open the door fully so he could be searched. Felix refused.

"I told John multiple times to open the door," Detective Alberto Cantu wrote in a court declaration. "I know that John is a member of a criminal street gang and has been involved in multiple shootings. Due to John's angry and agitated state, and history of violence, I requested dispatch to have an additional unit respond."

As backup arrived, Felix opened the door. Cantu grabbed his wrist, planning to search him for weapons, but Felix tried to pull away. Cantu dragged Felix out of the house, then the detective and another officer got him down on a bench. They were eventually able to force Felix into handcuffs.

He was booked for resisting arrest, but the charge was later dismissed and Felix was convicted of only a disturbance infraction.

Felix was convicted of disturbing the peace in 2009 and misdemeanor DUI in 2014.

His co-defendant in the gang shooting case, Antonio Madrigal, was convicted of attempted murder at trial and is still in prison. Court documents suggest Madrigal was the actual shooter and Felix assisted.

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By 8 a.m. Sunday, police had withdrawn from much of the neighborhood around the shooting scene, and remained only on a short segment of Cypress Road close to the Felix home.

The swarm of officers with assault rifles and tactical gear were gone, and all that was left were a few sheriff's department vehicles and a small road block manned by a lone deputy.

Motorists idled by on Francis Drive, as slow as they could, straining to see inside the scene of the tragedy that had struck the day before. The patrol car driven by the two officers who were killed remained at the scene.

There was no estimation for when the street may reopen.

"It will be closed for a while," Vasquez said.

A few blocks away from the shooting scene, Fred Elg, 93, was picking up handfuls of police tape left in his yard. Officers had put it up yesterday to rope off a perimeter, but now that the barricades had been pulled back, it was no longer necessary.

Elg was anxious to have it gone.

“Oh God, it’s terrible,” he said, when asked about the shooting. “I was a naval aviator in the war and I saw a lot of destruction. What else can you do besides go on with your business?”

Elg said he had been watching college football Saturday afternoon when he heard several loud banging noises from somewhere outside his house. He opened his front door to investigate, but finding nothing, returned to watch the game. Hours later, his relatives called him – terrified.

There was a police standoff down the street. Two officers were dead. The banging noises, it turned out, were gunshots.

One of the first witnesses to report Saturday’s shooting was Mike Hill, 50, a former San Francisco Sheriff’s Department deputy whose home sits immediately behind the shooting scene. Hill said he heard the unmistakable sound of five or six gunshots, then immediately called 911.

Soon, there was a cop at Hill's front door, asking for access to his backyard. Hill handed over the keys to his home, told the cops they were welcome to use his property however they needed, grabbed his two dogs and left the neighborhood. He returned Sunday morning, after Felix's arrest.

Hill choked up when he spoke about the officers who were killed.

“I've been to too many funerals,” Hill said. “There was no reason for those two to die.”

“People want to Monday morning quarterback the police so much, but they don’t understand the mental hell they go through,” he added. “It’s one thing to deal with a dead body, but when it’s your brother in blue … excuse my language, but it just f**** you up.”

Desert Sun reporters Sherry Barkas, Barrett Newkirk, Kristen Hwang and Anna Rumer contributed to this report. Investigative Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at (760) 778-4642 or brett.kelman@desertsun.com or followed on Twitter at @TDSbrettkelman.