John Perry, a 30-year-old Black Deputy U.S. Marshal, was killed in the line of duty on December 16, 2008, in St. Louis, Missouri. He and a team of about ten U.S. Marshals and St. Louis police officers arrived at a residence on Osage Street around 6:50 am to serve a felony warrant for a suspect wanted for assault on a law enforcement officer and drug possession. Officers removed several children from the home before searching for the wanted man.

As the team moved through the house, the suspect opened fire, striking Deputy Marshal Perry and a St. Louis police officer. During the subsequent exchange of gunfire a second deputy marshal was hit and the suspect was shot and killed. Perry was taken to a local hospital but died of his wounds later that day.

Perry had served a decade with the U.S. Marshals Service, with posts in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, and previously spent 16 years as a probation officer with Madison County, Illinois Probation and Court Services. He left behind three children and a fiancée and was posthumously promoted to Protective Intelligence Investigator.

If anyone has information about that morning on Osage Street or recalls details that could add to the record, please share what is known.