Friends, Family Mourn Woman Killed During Standoff

More than 100 friends and family members gathered at a Ventura church Tuesday night to share memories of 37-year-old Vicki Shade, killed Friday by her estranged boyfriend after a standoff with police.

Mourners attending a memorial service remembered her as the kind of woman who looked for the best in everyone, and who always told her friends that things happen for a reason.

More than a dozen people took the small stage at the Church of Religious Science, where Shade was a member of the choir, to remember a woman they said was compassionate and empathetic, a woman who never saw the bad in anyone.

Shade, a Ventura hairstylist and mother of three children, had recently separated from boyfriend Roland Sheehan, with whom she had a little girl. Sheehan, a drifter with a history of drug abuse and a criminal record, became enraged over the breakup and began stalking Shade.

Shade filed a restraining order, but it was not enough to keep Sheehan away. He broke into her home early Friday morning and, hours later, as Ventura’s SWAT team stormed the house, fatally stabbed her. Officers shot Sheehan dead when he lunged at them with a knife.

Shade’s 11-year-old daughter, Kaci Custer, spoke through tears Tuesday to share her favorite memory of her mom. “Probably the most I remember her was when she didn’t feel very well and we made her breakfast in bed,” said Kaci. “I miss my mom like everyone else does. And I hope they loved her as much as I did.”

Wendi Custer, 13, remembered the playful side of her mother, like the time she caught her younger sister throwing wet tissues at a ceiling in school. But Shade didn’t get mad, confiding she used to do the same thing when she was in school.

Among those in attendance were 15 Ventura police officers and SWAT team members, who were there at the invitation of Shade’s family. Officers who spent nine hours trying to convince Sheehan to free Shade said they wanted to show their support.

A funeral service and burial will be held for Shade on Thursday at Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where she grew up. In lieu of flowers, family members are asking that donations be made to a trust fund for her children: Ventura County Church of Religious Science, 101 South Laurel St., Ventura, CA, 93001.