Officer Christopher Wilson
Law enforcement officers from across California will gather along with state and local dignitaries Thursday to pay final respects to a veteran San Diego patrolman and father of two gunned down in the line of duty last week.
A procession of police vehicles from Mission Valley to Liberty Station will precede the mid-morning funeral for 17-year SDPD Officer Christopher Wilson, who was mortally wounded in a shootout with an assault suspect at a Skyline-area apartment complex.
Among the top state leaders slated to join city officials at the memorial church service are Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his newly elected successor, outgoing Attorney General Jerry Brown, SDPD spokesman Gary Hassen said.
Wilson, 50, a former Navy man who lived in Tierrasanta, was ambushed by a gunman late on the night of Oct. 27 while helping deputy federal marshals try to flush the fugitive assault suspect out of a second-floor apartment in the 400 block of South Meadowbrook Drive.
The officer died in a hospital about four hours later. Also killed were the wanted man, Holim Lee, 30, and his girlfriend, 27-year-old Lucky Xayasene.
Autopsies determined that Lee fatally shot himself. Xayasene's death, conversely, was not a suicide, but it remains unclear if it was a shot from Lee's gun or an officer's return fire that killed her. Ballistics tests that will answer that question have yet to be completed, according to police officials.
A service dog was wounded in the shootout as well but is expected to survive.
Wilson, the first on-duty law enforcement officer slain in San Diego County in nearly four years, is survived by a 17-year-old son, Conner, and 20-year-old daughter, Kaylee.
The San Diego Police Officers Association has set up a trust fund to benefit his family. Donors are asked to make checks payable to the SDPOA Charity Fund -- with Officer Wilson written on the memo line -- and send them to the agency's offices at 8388 Vickers St., San Diego, 92111.
Contributions also may be made via the association's website.
