Sergeant Anthony Joseph Gorman, 72, was a retired U.S. Army Military Police officer and long-time Sugarcreek Borough Police Department sergeant. On the night of April 4, 1997, while investigating a suspicious vehicle in a church parking lot on Keely Road in Franklin, Pennsylvania, he was shot in the abdomen just below his vest by the vehicle’s occupant, who later was linked to several armed robberies in the area.

Gorman returned fire but did not hit the suspect, who fled and was later arrested and convicted of attempted murder and armed robbery. Gorman required multiple hospitalizations and blood transfusions over the years, medically retired in August 2000, and died on October 1, 2014, from complications related to the 1997 gunshot wound. The convicted suspect received 17 to 50 years; while in prison that sentence was later increased after assaults on corrections officers and retaliation against a witness, and the prisoner was found dead in his cell on March 10, 2015.

Sergeant Gorman is survived by his wife and four children and is remembered for his dedication and sacrifice. Did anyone in the Franklin area know Sergeant Gorman or have additional information about that night?