Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks, who died in the line of duty near Sequim in September, will be posthumously awarded the state’s highest law enforcement award today.
Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna will give the Medal of Honor to five officers at a ceremony at 1 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Memorial Site in Olympia.
The medal is bestowed upon officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice or who have displayed exceptionally meritorious conduct.
Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Anne Jackson also will receive the award posthumously.
Vancouver Police Officer John Key, Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Schanaker and Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Holmes will receive the award for meritorious conduct.
Fairbanks, who lived in Forks with her husband and daughter, was shot to death on Sept. 20 after she called a State Patrol dispatcher to report that she was checking a Dodge van without license plates.
She named Shawn Matthew Roe, whose last known address was Everett, as the man in the van.
Roe, who police said also shot Sequim retiree Richard Ziegler and used his car to escape, was fatally shot that night after a manhunt.
Jackson was among six people killed in Alger in September. On Thursday, Isaac Zamora was ruled mentally competent to stand trial for her murder and five others.
Fairbanks’ and Jackson’s names — along with that of Sgt. Nelson Ng of the Ellensburg Police Department — are the most recent to be added to the State Law Enforcement Memorial for officers killed in the line of duty.
