First Policewoman Slain : LAPD Officer Joined Force 4 Months Ago

A rookie Los Angeles policewoman was shot and killed in Sun Valley early today, becoming the first female officer in the city’s history to die in the line of duty.

Tina Kerbrat, 34, was killed about 12:30 a.m. in a shootout that began after she and her partner pulled up beside two men drinking beer near the corner of Sunland Boulevard and Cantara Street.

One of the men opened fire with a .357 magnum revolver, shooting Kerbrat, a North Hollywood patrolwoman, in the face before either officer could get out of their car, police spokesman John Stieglipz said.

Kerbrat’s partner, Officer Earl Valladares, returned the fire, killing the gunman and taking the other man into custody. Police identified the gunman as Jose Amaya, 32, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador. Taken into custody was his companion, James Welch, 24.

Kerbrat is survived by her husband, Tim Kerbrat, a Los Angeles city firefighter, and two children, a son, 6, and a daughter, 3.

She entered the police academy in April and graduated in October.

Kerbrat, who had been in the field about four months, was still on probation and assigned to Valladares, a training officer with 20 years’ experience. They had been on duty about half an hour when they approached the suspects drinking beer so she could learn how to write an open-container violation, police said.

She is the fifth city police officer to be shot in the last eight days--the third from the North Hollywood division, where two other officers were injured last Sunday night.

Somber colleagues at the North Hollywood station on Tiara Street donned black bands over their police badges this morning, and the flag outside was at half-staff. Although officers carried on with business, a chaplain was available for counseling.

A flower arrangement on the station’s front desk bore a card reading: “In memory of Tina Kerbrat. We are fighting a war at home, too.”

North Hollywood officers Jon Hurd and Richard Householder were wounded last Sunday night after making a traffic stop. Despite injuries, they were able to return the fire, fatally shooting an ex-convict from Ohio believed to have been involved in a recent armed robbery in Glendale. Both officers, saved by their bulletproof vests, have been released from the hospital and are expected to fully recover.