Douglas E. Gibbs was a 27-year-old San Francisco Police Department officer killed after being shot during a decoy operation on September 26, 1977. He had five years’ service with the department and was searching a pickpocket suspect on the hood of a car near Jones Street and Golden Gate Avenue when a second man approached from behind and shot him twice in the back. Officer Gibbs died of his wounds five days later and was survived by his wife and three daughters.

The shooter, described as 33 years old with a long criminal history, surrendered shortly after the attack. That record included convictions for robbery, burglary, child molestation, assault, and murder; he had previously been convicted in 1969 of killing a retired sea captain and injuring the captain’s wife but was released on a legal technicality. The assailant was tried, convicted on June 2, 1978, and given life without parole.

Are there readers who remember Officer Gibbs, the decoy unit, or the neighborhood around Jones and Golden Gate Avenue in 1977 who can share any details?