Timothy B. Howe was a 34-year-old officer with the Oakland Unified School District Police Department who was killed on April 14, 1995, in East Oakland. He was making a routine traffic stop on Crosby Avenue when a verbal altercation with the driver escalated and the suspect, armed with an AK-47 rifle, shot Howe four times. An off-duty San Francisco officer heard the shots and summoned help, but Howe died shortly after being taken to Highland Hospital.

Howe’s death was the first fatality in the department’s 42-year history. Colleagues remembered him for mentoring students, using his own resources to support vulnerable children, and working to make a difference in East Oakland. The suspect was killed during a confrontation with law enforcement on April 18, 1995, after a four-hour standoff in which three people were wounded and the suspect was fatally shot at a roadblock.

A scholarship fund was created in Howe’s memory to help Fremont High School students pursue careers in criminal law. Does anyone have memories of Officer Howe or information about the traffic stop on Crosby Avenue?