Sergeant James Adrian Wouters of the Fort Pierce Police Department was killed on January 12, 1987, during a high-risk drug raid at a mobile home at Midway and Christianson Roads in White City. He was 33. Officers identified themselves on entry and were met with heavy gunfire; Sergeant Wouters and Lieutenant Grover C. Cooper III were fatally wounded and a third officer was injured and survived. Wouters was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center, underwent surgery, and died the next afternoon; Lieutenant Cooper died overnight.

During the exchange, the primary shooter was killed. One suspect fled and was never charged; another suspect later confessed involvement in the drug deal and received concurrent prison terms of 20 years for the murder charges and 15 years for drug offenses. The Fort Pierce Police Department later dedicated its main station in memory of Wouters and Cooper on January 12, 2012.

If anyone has additional information about the raid, the suspects, or these officers’ service, please share what is known.