Twenty-seven-year-old Lesley Zerebny was responding to a domestic disturbance call on October 8 when she was suddenly shot and killed on the scene along with Officer Jose “Gil” Vega.
Lesley had been serving for the Palm Springs Police Department for one year, and Jose had been on the team for 35 years when the tragedy occurred. He wasn’t even supposed to be on duty that night.
Even more tragically, Lesley had just returned to work from maternity leave, and she left behind her 4-month-old daughter, Cora, as well as her husband, Zachary.
Lesley was still breastfeeding Cora when she died, meaning her baby girl was left with no milk.
Almost immediately, California moms rallied together to donate their own breastmilk in order to help the Zerebny family. Within just 24 hours, over 500 ounces of breastmilk had been collected and delivered in a cooler to Zachary—it was enough to feed Cora for a month.
On it was a label marked with a single blue-striped flag reading, “In this family, No one fights alone.”
A week later, Zachary received enough to feed her for an entire year…
