DAVIS, Calif. — Community members and officers came together to pay their respects to a Davis police officer killed in the line of duty five years ago.
22-year-old Natalie Corona was only a few months on the job when a gunman opened fire while she was responding to a crash on 5th Street in 2019. He later turned the gun on himself.
On Wednesday, first responders and locals laid flowers at her memorial outside Davis Police headquarters. At the annual gathering in Corona's honor, there was a moment of silence and flags were lowered to half staff.
"Natalie was larger than life, enthusiastic and just a great person," said Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel. "Her greatest attribute was just making connections with people, and I think that's why everyone is just so sad that we lost her."
Corona's training officer, Keirith Briesenick, said Officer Corona started as a civilian employee before going into the police academy and becoming a police officer.
"I got to know Natalie both as a person and as a fellow officer. She was highly motivated, smart and good with the public," Briesenick said. "Natalie was really going to be a future amazing officer. She really had her heart in the right place."
"We still miss her a great deal and a lot of officers carry that with them on a daily basis, so this is a tough day for some of us," Briesenick added.
Since her tragic death, the community raised funds to create Natalie's Corner, a splash pad in Central Park. Lois Wolk, chair of the Natalie Corona Committee, said it was something the community wanted to do to in her memory to bring joy to those Officer Corona served.
"There was a tremendous outpouring that I had never seen in my 40-50 years here in Davis," she said.
Wolk said they are hoping to break ground on the project in early March. They hope to have the splashpad complete within a year of the ground breaking.
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