Erik Jon Telen was a 26-year-old deputy with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office who was killed on August 21, 2001, while responding to a burglary call in Dunlap, California. Neighbors had reported a suspicious man hiding in a tree house; the man initially asked for help, then fled, and neighbors called authorities. When Deputy Telen and a partner entered the house through an open window to search for the suspect, the suspect—who had armed himself with several firearms found inside—opened fire and fatally wounded Deputy Telen.

Responding deputies and Telen’s partner extracted him and transported him to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries. The suspect engaged in a five-hour standoff with law enforcement before being taken into custody and was later sentenced to life in prison on October 20, 2008. Telen had served 18 months with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office after three years with the Ontario Police Department. He was survived by his expectant wife and two daughters; a son was born on October 1, 2001, and named in his honor.