An on-duty conversation inside the Johnsonburg Borough Police Department ended in lethal violence on January 17, 1984. Carl Harold Whippo, a 63-year-old officer who had served the department for 14 years, was speaking with a fellow officer and a borough councilman when a 22-year-old man entered the station armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and opened fire. The blast fatally struck Officer Whippo.

The other officer at the scene returned fire, wounding the assailant in the abdomen and allowing him to be taken into custody. The motive for the attack is not stated in initial reports. The attacker was later convicted of murder and given a life sentence.

Did anyone in or around Johnsonburg at the time recall unusual activity near the station that day or have information about the assailant’s arrival?