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Family and friends honor slain Utah code-enforcement officer at Friday funeral

  | Aug. 17, 2018, 5:06 p.m.
| Updated: Aug. 18, 2018, 3:45 a.m.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A ribbon at funeral services for Jill Robinson, a West Valley City code-enforcement officer killed on the job last week. The service took place at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Friday Aug. 17, 2018.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A ribbon at funeral services for Jill Robinson, a West Valley City code-enforcement officer killed on the job last week. The service took place at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Friday Aug. 17, 2018.

Jill Robinson’s four kids walked into their mother’s funeral Friday behind her flag-draped casket, holding hands, crying and reflecting on her love for life and her job.

The seats around the Maverik Center, too, were full of friends, family and co-workers who came to say goodbye. Robinson made almost everyone she met smile, and her death last week was a shock to the community.

She was killed Aug. 9 while working as a code-enforcement officer for West Valley City. Robinson had been conducting a routine follow-up at a house that had received a violation notice. The homeowner shot her in his driveway, police say, and set fire to her city vehicle.

Robinson, 52, had worked for the city for 10 years in code enforcement, which includes issuing citations for vehicles parked on lawns, driveways filled with weeds or garbage piled up outside homes.

“She always wanted a position where she could make a difference in the community,” her daughter Katie Merrill said earlier this week.