LA QUINTA - The day after the deaths of a respected Riverside County Sheriff's deputy and his suspected killer, valley law enforcement and residents still are coming to terms with the tragedy.
Deputy Bruce Lee, 45, died of blunt force trauma to the head and his alleged attacker, Kevin W. Diabo, 24, of La Quinta was shot to death by another deputy while responding to a domestic disturbance Tuesday morning in La Quinta.
According to a statement released by Gov. Gray Davis' office Tuesday, Lee was bludgeoned to death with his own baton.
But Tim Herrara, spokesman for the governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning, said they based that statement on reports from the California Highway Patrol and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Shelley Kennedy-Smith said the investigation was too preliminary to either confirm or deny those reports.
Lee's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in La Quinta. Interment will follow at the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Flags across California flew at half-staff Wednesday and will remain there through Monday in honor of Lee.
Kennedy-Smith said Lee's name will be added to a national memorial in Washington next year.
At the Riverside County Sheriff's Department substation in Indio and at the Lee family's La Quinta home on Wednesday, flowers were delivered regularly throughout the day.
Tom Freeman, Sheriff Bob Doyle's spokesman, said chaplains, grief counselors and an outside counseling team are helping department employees grieve.
"Police officers aren't any different than anyone else," Freeman said. "They're mourning a friend."
In southern La Quinta on Wednesday, children played outside to the rhythm of an ice-cream truck while a near constant parade of curiosity seekers drove past the Diabo family's home in the 54-300 block of Avenida Velasco.
Gary Cotton, 49, said he has been the Diabo's neighbor for 23 years. He said the neighborhood is devastated by both the death of a man they saw grow up on their streets and that of a man sworn to keep those same streets safe.
Cotton described the Diabo family as hard working, kind and loving to their three children, including Kevin.
According to Cotton, Lana and Kevin T. Diabo lived at the home with their children. Residents of the home did not answer the phone or return repeated messages left Tuesday and Wednesday.
Details for Diabo's services were not available.
Kevin Diabo had seven arrests between June 1999 and October 2002, according to Riverside County court records.
Five of those arrests resulted in convictions on charges ranging from felony burglary and misdemeanor hit-and-run property damage to resisting arrest.
Cotton said the family tried to help Kevin, to no avail. "I guess the dark side kept calling him back."
Cotton, like others in the neighborhood, said they still will support the Diabo family. Cotton said he hopes the neighbors who give him tamales at Christmas will know they still are welcomed at their home, despite the tragedy and the publicity.
"I love those people. These are good people stuck in a bad situation," he said.
But Cotton also mourns the loss of Lee, a man so charming and nice, Cotton said he still remembers installing the telephone system at Lee's home more than three years ago.
"I don't remember people. I don't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remembered this guy," Cotton said. "All the way around it's an awful thing."
Deputy Bruce Lee, 45, died of blunt force trauma to the head and his alleged attacker, Kevin W. Diabo, 24, of La Quinta was shot to death by another deputy while responding to a domestic disturbance Tuesday morning in La Quinta.
According to a statement released by Gov. Gray Davis' office Tuesday, Lee was bludgeoned to death with his own baton.
But Tim Herrara, spokesman for the governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning, said they based that statement on reports from the California Highway Patrol and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Shelley Kennedy-Smith said the investigation was too preliminary to either confirm or deny those reports.
Lee's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in La Quinta. Interment will follow at the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Flags across California flew at half-staff Wednesday and will remain there through Monday in honor of Lee.
Kennedy-Smith said Lee's name will be added to a national memorial in Washington next year.
At the Riverside County Sheriff's Department substation in Indio and at the Lee family's La Quinta home on Wednesday, flowers were delivered regularly throughout the day.
Tom Freeman, Sheriff Bob Doyle's spokesman, said chaplains, grief counselors and an outside counseling team are helping department employees grieve.
"Police officers aren't any different than anyone else," Freeman said. "They're mourning a friend."
In southern La Quinta on Wednesday, children played outside to the rhythm of an ice-cream truck while a near constant parade of curiosity seekers drove past the Diabo family's home in the 54-300 block of Avenida Velasco.
Gary Cotton, 49, said he has been the Diabo's neighbor for 23 years. He said the neighborhood is devastated by both the death of a man they saw grow up on their streets and that of a man sworn to keep those same streets safe.
Cotton described the Diabo family as hard working, kind and loving to their three children, including Kevin.
According to Cotton, Lana and Kevin T. Diabo lived at the home with their children. Residents of the home did not answer the phone or return repeated messages left Tuesday and Wednesday.
Details for Diabo's services were not available.
Kevin Diabo had seven arrests between June 1999 and October 2002, according to Riverside County court records.
Five of those arrests resulted in convictions on charges ranging from felony burglary and misdemeanor hit-and-run property damage to resisting arrest.
Cotton said the family tried to help Kevin, to no avail. "I guess the dark side kept calling him back."
Cotton, like others in the neighborhood, said they still will support the Diabo family. Cotton said he hopes the neighbors who give him tamales at Christmas will know they still are welcomed at their home, despite the tragedy and the publicity.
"I love those people. These are good people stuck in a bad situation," he said.
But Cotton also mourns the loss of Lee, a man so charming and nice, Cotton said he still remembers installing the telephone system at Lee's home more than three years ago.
"I don't remember people. I don't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remembered this guy," Cotton said. "All the way around it's an awful thing."
LA QUINTA - The day after the deaths of a respected Riverside County Sheriff's deputy and his suspected killer, valley law enforcement and residents still are coming to terms with the tragedy.
Deputy Bruce Lee, 45, died of blunt force trauma to the head and his alleged attacker, Kevin W. Diabo, 24, of La Quinta was shot to death by another deputy while responding to a domestic disturbance Tuesday morning in La Quinta.
According to a statement released by Gov. Gray Davis' office Tuesday, Lee was bludgeoned to death with his own baton.
But Tim Herrara, spokesman for the governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning, said they based that statement on reports from the California Highway Patrol and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Shelley Kennedy-Smith said the investigation was too preliminary to either confirm or deny those reports.
Lee's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in La Quinta. Interment will follow at the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Flags across California flew at half-staff Wednesday and will remain there through Monday in honor of Lee.
Kennedy-Smith said Lee's name will be added to a national memorial in Washington next year.
At the Riverside County Sheriff's Department substation in Indio and at the Lee family's La Quinta home on Wednesday, flowers were delivered regularly throughout the day.
Tom Freeman, Sheriff Bob Doyle's spokesman, said chaplains, grief counselors and an outside counseling team are helping department employees grieve.
"Police officers aren't any different than anyone else," Freeman said. "They're mourning a friend."
In southern La Quinta on Wednesday, children played outside to the rhythm of an ice-cream truck while a near constant parade of curiosity seekers drove past the Diabo family's home in the 54-300 block of Avenida Velasco.
Gary Cotton, 49, said he has been the Diabo's neighbor for 23 years. He said the neighborhood is devastated by both the death of a man they saw grow up on their streets and that of a man sworn to keep those same streets safe.
Cotton described the Diabo family as hard working, kind and loving to their three children, including Kevin.
According to Cotton, Lana and Kevin T. Diabo lived at the home with their children. Residents of the home did not answer the phone or return repeated messages left Tuesday and Wednesday.
Details for Diabo's services were not available.
Kevin Diabo had seven arrests between June 1999 and October 2002, according to Riverside County court records.
Five of those arrests resulted in convictions on charges ranging from felony burglary and misdemeanor hit-and-run property damage to resisting arrest.
Cotton said the family tried to help Kevin, to no avail. "I guess the dark side kept calling him back."
Cotton, like others in the neighborhood, said they still will support the Diabo family. Cotton said he hopes the neighbors who give him tamales at Christmas will know they still are welcomed at their home, despite the tragedy and the publicity.
"I love those people. These are good people stuck in a bad situation," he said.
But Cotton also mourns the loss of Lee, a man so charming and nice, Cotton said he still remembers installing the telephone system at Lee's home more than three years ago.
"I don't remember people. I don't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remembered this guy," Cotton said. "All the way around it's an awful thing."
Deputy Bruce Lee, 45, died of blunt force trauma to the head and his alleged attacker, Kevin W. Diabo, 24, of La Quinta was shot to death by another deputy while responding to a domestic disturbance Tuesday morning in La Quinta.
According to a statement released by Gov. Gray Davis' office Tuesday, Lee was bludgeoned to death with his own baton.
But Tim Herrara, spokesman for the governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning, said they based that statement on reports from the California Highway Patrol and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Shelley Kennedy-Smith said the investigation was too preliminary to either confirm or deny those reports.
Lee's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in La Quinta. Interment will follow at the Coachella Valley Public Cemetery.
Flags across California flew at half-staff Wednesday and will remain there through Monday in honor of Lee.
Kennedy-Smith said Lee's name will be added to a national memorial in Washington next year.
At the Riverside County Sheriff's Department substation in Indio and at the Lee family's La Quinta home on Wednesday, flowers were delivered regularly throughout the day.
Tom Freeman, Sheriff Bob Doyle's spokesman, said chaplains, grief counselors and an outside counseling team are helping department employees grieve.
"Police officers aren't any different than anyone else," Freeman said. "They're mourning a friend."
In southern La Quinta on Wednesday, children played outside to the rhythm of an ice-cream truck while a near constant parade of curiosity seekers drove past the Diabo family's home in the 54-300 block of Avenida Velasco.
Gary Cotton, 49, said he has been the Diabo's neighbor for 23 years. He said the neighborhood is devastated by both the death of a man they saw grow up on their streets and that of a man sworn to keep those same streets safe.
Cotton described the Diabo family as hard working, kind and loving to their three children, including Kevin.
According to Cotton, Lana and Kevin T. Diabo lived at the home with their children. Residents of the home did not answer the phone or return repeated messages left Tuesday and Wednesday.
Details for Diabo's services were not available.
Kevin Diabo had seven arrests between June 1999 and October 2002, according to Riverside County court records.
Five of those arrests resulted in convictions on charges ranging from felony burglary and misdemeanor hit-and-run property damage to resisting arrest.
Cotton said the family tried to help Kevin, to no avail. "I guess the dark side kept calling him back."
Cotton, like others in the neighborhood, said they still will support the Diabo family. Cotton said he hopes the neighbors who give him tamales at Christmas will know they still are welcomed at their home, despite the tragedy and the publicity.
"I love those people. These are good people stuck in a bad situation," he said.
But Cotton also mourns the loss of Lee, a man so charming and nice, Cotton said he still remembers installing the telephone system at Lee's home more than three years ago.
"I don't remember people. I don't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remembered this guy," Cotton said. "All the way around it's an awful thing."
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
