Investigator Terry N. Thuma of the Orlando Police Department was shot with a .22 caliber rifle on July 23, 1977 while serving a drug warrant. The bullet fractured his spine between vertebrae T5 and T6 and left him paralyzed from the breastbone down. Despite his injuries, Thuma continued to serve with the department for more than 19 years.

Thuma died in his sleep on January 9, 1990 from a fast-acting pneumonia that developed as a complication of the gunshot wound he had carried for 13 years. The person who shot him was apprehended but later acquitted, so no one was held legally accountable for the injuries that eventually contributed to his death. He is remembered on the Florida Sheriffs and the National Law Enforcement Memorial and is survived by two children.