Captain Roy Huskey was 48 and a member of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. On May 31, 1979, he responded to a domestic dispute between a man and his teenage daughter in Rutherford County. As he exited his patrol car the suspect shot him in the head; Huskey succumbed to his wounds. He had served about 12 years with the department.

The same suspect, James Hutchins, went on to kill Deputy Millard Messersmith and Trooper Robert Peterson before fleeing; Hutchins was later apprehended, convicted of capital murder and executed by lethal injection in 1984. The shootings had a profound effect on the community and fellow officers.