George Richard Moscone, 49, was shot and killed inside San Francisco City Hall on November 27, 1978. Moscone, then the city’s 37th mayor known for progressive policies and efforts to diversify municipal government, was preparing to announce the appointment to a supervisor seat vacated by Dan White when White entered City Hall through a basement window to avoid metal detectors and shot Moscone in his office.

Dan White also proceeded to kill Supervisor Harvey Milk elsewhere in the building. White was charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances but was convicted of voluntary manslaughter after his defense raised diminished capacity, a strategy tied in reporting to his consumption of junk food. He received a seven years and eight months sentence and was paroled after serving just over five years. The verdict triggered the White Night riots and led to changes in California law removing the diminished capacity defense. Dianne Feinstein, then president of the Board of Supervisors, announced the deaths and became acting mayor.