David Arthur Jack was a 21-year-old California State Police officer who was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head in a doorway at the Los Angeles Dispatch Center on October 21, 1974. His service revolver remained holstered, and he died at the hospital shortly after being discovered, a detail that investigators interpreted as indicating he had been ambushed.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in Inglewood on December 2, 1974, initially for carrying a concealed weapon; that .38 caliber revolver was later identified as the gun used to kill Officer Jack and had previously belonged to another Los Angeles officer, James C. Van Pelt, who had been critically injured in a separate attack by the same suspect. The suspect was charged with Jack’s murder and three counts of attempted murder; on July 7, 1975, he was convicted of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 22 years to life. He was paroled in September 1985, returned to custody 13 months later for a parole violation, and released again on January 18, 1989.

Officer Jack had served seven months with the California State Police and was survived by his parents. Was anyone in the Los Angeles Dispatch Center or nearby that night able to see or hear anything that might fill gaps in the timeline?