Clarence E. Hamler was 27 and a four-year veteran of the Chattanooga Police Department when he was killed on August 14, 1977. He stopped at the Red Food Store on South Broad Street to visit his brother when two armed men entered intending to rob the grocery. Hamler intervened; as he rounded a corner inside the store one of the assailants shot him in the head and neck.

Hamler’s brother then seized the officer’s firearm and fatally shot one of the suspects. The second suspect, a 53-year-old man who was on work-release at the time and who had an extensive criminal history including prior escapes, fled the scene. He was captured about three months later, tried for Hamler’s murder and originally received a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison.

Are there any former Red Food Store customers or employees who remember that day or who can shed light on the events inside the store?