'He was our hero': Family of slain Chicago officer gather for first holiday without him

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - The family of slain officer Samuel Jimenez, who was gunned down last week by an armed madman at Mercy Hospital, had their first holiday without him.

But they are thankful the man they called their hero is now ours as well.

"It's hard. It's always gonna be hard when you lose somebody, especially when it's so close to home. But I’m ok because it was something that he wanted and he craved to do and he was awesome at,” said Christina Ruiz.

Christina is trying to keep a brave face despite her baby cousin's tragic death.

"He was our hero. Now he's y'all's hero. And we get to share him with you guys the same way you guys get to share the love and affection that we have for him,” she said.

Christina found out her beloved cousin was killed when she saw it on the news.

"And when his picture popped up I was like, are you kidding me?” she said. "I went back, looked at the news again, his picture came up with his whole uniform, I’m like, that's when it hit me.”

Now, she's trying to honor her cousin's wishes by staying strong in spite of the terrible tragedy. But she admits it's hard.

"Yeah, I do cry here and there but it's more crying in anger cause I didn't get to see him for the last time to say my goodbyes,” Christina said.

Meanwhile, new disturbing details emerge on the gunman, Juan Lopez, after the Chicago Fire Department released his personnel file. Lopez was terminated from the academy in 2014 after an internal investigation showed repeated hostility toward female cadets.

One complained Lopez ran into her deliberately, saying he had been bumping into her on multiple occasions while viciously staring at her and with a snide response of, 'yeah, excuse me.'

Another cadet said during a running drill, Lopez ran right into her and that it was unnecessary and he hit her and she felt it was deliberate. She stated that she acknowledged to Lopez and yelled "excuse me" in which Lopez turned around and mockingly stated "yeah, well, excuse you."

The investigation revealed that 10 out of 11 female candidates in the class all had negative remarks about their fellow class mate.