LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A memorial ceremony was held Saturday for the U.S. Coast Guard officer who was killed during law enforcement operations in Santa Barbara County.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne, 34, was killed on Dec. 2 after two Mexican nationals rammed their panga boat into a Coast Guard vessel near the Channel Islands.

Horne and another officer, in a small search boat, were investigating the boat, which officials suspected was involved with illicit activities.

The vessel, maneuvering at a high rate of speed, struck the Coast Guard’s small boat before fleeing the scene, officials said.

Horne and another officer were thrown into the water. Horne was struck by a propeller and suffered a traumatic head injury. The other officer sustained a laceration to his knee.

The memorial ceremony, which was not open to the public, took place at 1 p.m. at Reservation Point, 1001 South Seaside Avenue in San Pedro on Terminal Island.

Two suspects have been charged in the 34-year-old’s murder.

Horne, a 14-year veteran of the Coast Guard, lived in Redondo Beach with his pregnant wife and their young child.

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