The location for Thursday's memorial for two slain Santa Cruz police officers has been moved to the HP Pavilion in San Jose to fit the large number of people expected to attend, a police spokesman said.
The Santa Cruz Police Department realized that interest from public to honor the fallen officers, killed in the line of duty Tuesday, would have meant splitting the memorial into four venues in Santa Cruz, Deputy Chief Steve Clark said.
People from throughout the country plan to be at the service for Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Officer Elizabeth Butler, Clark said.
"We felt it wouldn't capture the essence of a real memorial service" to have it in multiple places, Clark said. "We felt that we had to have that real experience together," Clark said.
"We didn't want anyone to feel that they could not come because of venue restrictions."
Representatives of the HP Pavilion "have been absolutely gracious to us" and will help prepare the arena to make it available for the service, Clark said. Baker, 51, and Butler, 38, were allegedly shot to death by a criminal suspect, Jeremy Goulet, 35, while trying to interview him about a misdemeanor sexual assault in Santa Cruz. Goulet was later gunned down in a shootout with police.
The HP Pavilion, where the San Jose Sharks professional hockey team plays, seats 17,500 people for hockey and has a maximum seating capacity of 20,000, according to the Sharks website. The ceremony is set to take place at noon at the pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St. in San Jose.
Local
A motorcade procession, with vehicles from Santa Cruz police, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department, Santa Cruz firefighters and emergency responders, will precede the memorial, Clark said. The line of vehicles, to stretch about two miles, with make its way from Santa Cruz to San Jose on state Highway 17 that morning, Clark said.
Santa Cruz police took two days off from patrol duties after the shooting but returned to duty Friday.
Patrol shifts were covered by sheriff's deputies and the California Highway Patrol.
Also Friday, investigators announced they are searching for a woman who may hold clues to the background and history of the man who shot and killed the two Santa Cruz police officers on Tuesday. The shooter was later gunned down in a shootout with police.
Terisa Johnson, aka Terisa Lamb, 28, was not involved in any way with the murders of Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler, Santa Cruz County sheriff's officials said today.
However, Johnson is thought to have been acquainted with or in the company of the
suspect Jeremy Goulet earlier this year and investigators hope she can provide information on his background and social history, officials said.
Johnson's current whereabouts are unknown. She was last known to be homeless and living in a camp in the city of Santa Cruz, and is known to frequent the Santa Cruz, Live Oak and Soquel areas.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office at (831) 471-1121 or ask her to call that number.
