Fallen Officer Natalie Corona honored by Davis PD on one-year anniversary of fatal shooting
The Davis Police Department will unveil a memorial honoring its two fallen officers on Friday, one year to the day after the tragic slaying of Officer Natalie Corona during a routine call.
Corona, a 22-year-old “rising star” who completed her field training just a few weeks prior, was shot and killed in what Police Chief Darren Pytel described as an indiscriminate “ambush” on the evening of Jan. 10, 2019, near 5th and D streets in downtown Davis. She was responding to a minor traffic collision when a gunman approached the area on bicycle, fatally shot Corona, opened fire on vehicles and homes in the surrounding area, then took his own life.
The fallen officer memorial event is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Davis Police Department, 2600 5th Street. The department advised on social media that Cantrill Drive will be closed to through traffic, parking in the area will be limited and “serious traffic delays” should be expected in the area due to the event, though 5th Street will remain open.
Cantrill Drive’s namesake, Officer Douglas Cantrill, will also be honored on the memorial, the Davis Enterprise reported earlier this week. Cantrill, who died September 1959 after being shot by his own service weapon, was just 23 years old. Corona and Cantrill remain the only two Davis Police officers who have died in the line of duty.
Thousands, including law enforcement officers from across the state, packed a UC Davis auditorium eight days after the shooting for Corona’s public funeral service. A cousin told The Sacramento Bee that Natalie was a dedicated officer with a deep love for police work who considered herself “married to the job.”
Authorities identified the suspect in Corona’s death as Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48, who was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head in his nearby home. No one else was injured in the shooting.
