Sergeant Vernon Thomas Vanderpool, 57, of the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department was killed on February 14, 1994, during a department staff training seminar at the Holiday Inn in Torrance, California. An armed gunman burst into the 12th-floor conference room attempting a robbery. Sergeant Vanderpool lunged at the shooter to protect his colleagues and was fatally shot during the struggle.

Captain Michael Tracy, who tried to assist Vanderpool, was also shot and killed. The gunman wore a bulletproof vest and later choked to death on the vest while being subdued by other officers; no further arrests or suspects were involved. Vanderpool had 13 years with Palos Verdes Estates PD and nine years with the Los Angeles Police Department. An estimated 4,000 mourners attended a February 21, 1994 funeral ceremony on a grassy knoll overlooking Los Angeles harbor.

If anyone attended that seminar or the memorial service, or has memories of Sergeant Vanderpool to share, please post what you know.