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The day after, harshest reality sets in for family, friends of officer
By AMY HERDY
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Loving a cop means facing the reality they can die in the line of duty. For Tampa police officers Lois Marrero and Mickie Mashburn, a couple for 10 years, the situation was one they acknowledged together. "We had discussed it many times, because Lois loved her job," Mashburn said. "She worked every day at 150 percent."
"We had good times and bad times at TPD," she said, "but when things like this happen, everyone comes together as a family." Marrero, 40, had 19 years on the force and planned to retire in 15 months. At a monument to slain officers outside police headquarters Saturday, flowers, cards and candles were left by friends, fellow officers and residents touched by the tragedy. Marrero's sister, Brenda Ayoub, remembered Marrero as a loving aunt and godparent to Ayoub's 2-year-old daughter. "She was extremely dedicated, loyal, intense," she said. "At the same time, she was a very loving person." As a gift, the sisters were planning to take their ailing father on a trip to Germany in the early fall, Ayoub said, and she had recently fought the nagging fear they were running out of time. "In my heart, I knew something was going to happen," she said. Saturday, at the site of the shooting, a makeshift memorial in honor of Marrero included flowers, a rosary and a small flower pot perched on an orange emergency cone with the words "Never to be Forgotten." James Quinn of Seffner has a 26-year-old son who is a patrolman in Bartow. Quinn, who sometimes does maintenance work for Sears in the area, didn't know Marrero but came to pay his respects. "I'm just reintegrating the fact how serious it can be and how they put their lives on the line for us," he said. At PrideFest, an annual gathering of gays and lesbians in Tampa, a moment of silence was observed in Marrero's honor, said Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith. She hoped Mashburn would be entitled to survivors benefits that a surviving spouse would receive. "The reality is . . . they're treated like strangers under the law," she said. "And I hope that's not the case here." Tampa police spokeswoman Katie Hughes said she did not know Saturday how such a case would be handled. Mashburn, a detective with the department, said that no matter how she was recognized by the department, "There is no doubt that Lois was Tampa's finest." When she lost Marrero, Mashburn said, "I can honestly tell you that a part of me died."
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