Deputy Sheriff Ralph Dewayne Wilder, a U.S. Navy veteran who had served four years with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, was killed during a violent confrontation in Baton Rouge in the winter of 1972. What began as a civil rights demonstration on North Boulevard on January 10 escalated into a riot after three newsmen were attacked. A single, unidentified shot precipitated an exchange of gunfire between demonstrators and law enforcement that left Wilder and Deputy Ralph G. Hancock dead, two demonstrators also killed, and 34 others wounded.

Authorities arrested several people after the riot; thirteen suspects were charged in the deputies’ murders. On May 8, 1973, nine were convicted of inciting a riot and participating in a riot where death occurred and were each sentenced to 21 years. Those convictions were later overturned by the Louisiana Supreme Court on March 31, 1975, which found the defendants could not have received a fair trial in Baton Rouge.

Did anyone in the area on January 10, 1972, witness the initial attack on the newsmen or the single shot that sparked the gun battle?