Omaha cop shot dead hours before start of maternity leave

Omaha's skyline

The White House sent representatives to the Freddie Gray and Michael Brown funerals.

How many will it dispatch to the funeral of an Omaha cop killed in the line of duty?

From NBC News:

Omaha cop Kerrie Orozco had put off starting maternity leave until her premature baby girl could come home from the hospital. Just hours before bringing her daughter home and taking the long-awaited leave, Orozco was gunned down on the job by a suspect.

Orozco, 29, a seven-year veteran, delivered Olivia Ruth early in February. The baby girl stayed in the hospital for three months and was scheduled to come home Thursday — when Orozco was "due to take time off to look after her," Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Thursday.

But first Orozco, who had served on the city's gang unit since 2012, went to help serve a felony arrest warrant Wednesday on 26-year-old Marcus Wheeler. Gunfire erupted, and both Orozco and Wheeler — a "convicted felon and a known gang member" wanted in relation to a previous shooting in Omaha — were hit, Schmaderer said.

Schmaderer said the fatal bullet struck Orozco, 29, in her upper chest — just above the top of her protective vest.