Officer Jason K. Grossnickle, 25, was killed in an ambush on May 23, 1996, as he arrived for duty at Dayton Police Department 3rd District Headquarters, 2013 West Third Street. He and another officer were walking through the department parking lot when a man exited a stolen delivery truck and opened fire. Grossnickle was struck and killed instantly; the other officer was shot in the jaw but returned fire and killed the shooter.

The shooter, identified as Maurice Fareed, 24, had earlier that day fatally shot 31-year-old Brian Catron during a delivery to a market on Antietam Avenue owned by Fareed’s family. After that murder Fareed drove Catron’s delivery truck to the police headquarters and carried out the ambush. Fareed later died of the gunshot wounds sustained when officers returned fire.

Grossnickle had graduated from the Dayton Police Academy shortly before the shooting and had been on the force three months. His father, Larry Grossnickle, a homicide detective for the department, responded to the scene. The attack prompted investigations into Fareed’s motives, which were linked in reports to his preoccupation with whether he had been given opportunities in life and whether he was receiving appropriate respect by people of his race and other races.

Did anyone in the Dayton area have contact with Officer Grossnickle or information about the events of May 23, 1996?