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O'Sullivan was a member of Sacramento State's Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars' Program, which \"allows young men and women to go directly into the academy to serve,\" Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen said.

\"We lost a hero. We lost a leader,\" Nelsen said at a news conference on Thursday. \"We will never forget her... and we will aspire to be as good as she is.\"

\"We all hurt today,\" he said, overcome with emotion.

\"To Tara's parents and family, and Tara's fellow officers, I am so sorry,\" Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a statement released by the police department. \"As Mayor of the city she swore to protect, our city is heartbroken and we are here for you every step of the way.\"

\"PHOTO:
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
PHOTO: A law enforcement officer mans a barricade near a home after shooting of a Sacramento police officer, June 19, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif.
>

It had been 20 years since the department lost an officer in the line of duty. She's the 23rd officer killed this year from gunfire.

In January, 22-year-old Natalie Corona of the Davis Police Department was killed in an \"ambush\"-style attack responding to an accident. After sustaining multiple gunshot wounds at the scene, she died at a trauma center in Sacramento.

\"She was just an absolute star in the department and someone that pretty much every department member looked to as a close friend, a sister,\" Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said at the time.

\"PHOTO:A
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
PHOTO:A Sacramento Police officer responds to the shooting of a fellow officer in Sacramento, Calif., June 19, 2019.
>

Sacramento City Council Rep. Angelique Ashby said there were seven women in O'Sullivan's graduating class and that more women may get shot as more risk their lives by joining the force.

O'Sullivan's death \"had nothing to do with her being a woman,\" Ashby said. \"It had to do with her being a hero.\"

During the standoff in which O'Sullivan was killed, five officers fired their duty weapons, said police. They have been placed on paid administrative leave, police said.

ABC News' Mark Osborne contributed to this report.

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