Christy Lynne Hamilton always wanted to be a cop just like her father.
And at age 45 she became the oldest woman to graduate from the Los Angeles Police Academy - earning the Tina Kerbrat Award for her determination to make the force, an honor named after the only other woman LAPD officer killed in the line of duty.On Tuesday, after only four weeks on the job, Hamilton died after a teenager armed with an assault rifle fired a round that hit her just above her bulletproof vest.
Hamilton was rushed to nearby Northridge Hospital Medical Center but died an hour later, with her father and Police Chief Willie L. Williams by her side.
"What are the odds that this was going to happen?" asked her father, Ken Brondell of suburban Van Nuys, who retired in 1975 as a Los Angeles Police Department detective after 30 years on the force. "There's nothing you can do if you step out of your car, if somebody puts you in their cross-sights."
Lt. Dan Hoffman, a colleague at LAPD's Devonshire Division station, said Hamilton brought a wealth of experience, maturity, intelligence and compassion to the police force.
"She was an extremely mature, compassionate woman," the lieutenant said. "She brought an enthusiasm and a caring for her position as an L.A. police officer that we strive to attract to the department. We were lucky to have her."
Hamilton, who was separated from her second husband, was the mother of a 21-year-old son and a 25-year-old daughter. She grew up in Van Nuys, graduating from high school in 1966, and had lived in the Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks for the past several years.
"Her biggest strength was her determination," LAPD Officer Michael Reyes, the leader of Hamilton's Police Academy class, said of his classmate.
Reyes said the academy class choose Hamilton for the Tina Kerbrat Award - named for the first female LAPD officer killed in the line of duty - because of her inspirational drive to serve as a police officer.
"People have ups and downs, but she never did," he said.
Four weeks after getting the award, Hamilton became the second female LAPD officer killed in the line of duty after rolling to the scene of a family dispute in the Los Angeles area of Northridge.
The 17-year-old gunman - who fatally shot his father and would later turn the gun on himself - hit Hamilton with a single round as she emerged from her patrol car.
Williams recalled talking to Hamilton's father at the hospital and how the men shared the same pained sentiment.
"The Los Angeles Police Department will never know the type of officer she would have been but her family and close friends will," Williams recalled the two men agreeing.
Although she completed training last month, Hamilton had just gone through graduation last Friday - the ceremony having been delayed because of the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake.