Sergeant Donald Jack Sowma Sr., 44, was killed on November 19, 1976, while on duty with the Cypress Police Department. Officers were responding to a silent burglar alarm at a Cypress business when Sgt. Sowma was shot during the search of the premises and later died of his wounds. He had served with the department for 12 years and had risen through the ranks to detective and sergeant.

The suspect, described in reports as 32 years old at the time, was taken into custody after a roughly six-hour standoff with a SWAT team and was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on July 7, 1977. The community honored Sgt. Sowma’s service by naming a street near the Cypress Civic Center Sowma Way. His wife and four children have continued to keep his memory alive.

Are there readers who remember Sgt. Sowma, the response that night, or the area around the Cypress Civic Center?