Officer Ernest Wilson Davis, Jr. was killed while on duty in the early morning of July 16, 1980. The 33-year-old Philadelphia police officer, a U.S. Air Force veteran who had served four years with the department, responded to a report of a man with a gun at a North Broad Street restaurant. He approached a van matching the description and an occupant inside opened fire, mortally wounding him. Officer Davis managed to return fire as the van fled but did not hit the shooter.

A nearby detective who heard the shots found the suspect vehicle stopped and the occupants were arrested. The man later convicted of Davis’s murder was sentenced to death and remained on death row until he died of natural causes on July 24, 2010, while still awaiting execution. Officer Davis was survived by his wife and their 5-year-old son.