People pay tribute to fallen Sacramento police officer, alleged gunman to appear in court

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP/KTVU) - Sacramento State University held a vigil for one of its own on Sunday: Tara O'Sullivan, a graduate of the school and a police officer who was gunned down in the line of duty earlier in the week.

The 26-year-old graduated there in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in child development and was part of the university's first class of the Law Enforcement Candidate Scholar's program. A few hundred people came out to pay their respects.

Nearby, city leaders and community members gathered in the El Dorado hills to paint two large rocks blue in her honor. One included her name and badge number.

She was gunned down on June 19 by Adel Sambrando Ramos, a man with a history of domestic violence and restraining orders. He is expected in court on Monday.

Police said he shot her as O'Sullivan and other officers were helping a woman gather her belongings from a Sacramento home as part of a domestic violence call. It took her colleagues 45 minutes to get to her in the backyard after she had been shot as Ramos was still armed.

O'Sullivan is the first Sacramento police officer to be killed on the job in two decades.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, O'Sullivan was a member of the first class of a law enforcement training program at California State University, Sacramento. She completed the training program and graduated with a degree in child development.