Officer John Glenn Chase, a 25-year-old Caucasian man who had been with the Dallas Police Department for two and a half years, was killed on January 23, 1988, during a traffic stop in Dallas, Texas. According to accounts, a homeless man named Carl Williams wrestled Chase’s service revolver away and shot him three times in the face. A crowd at the scene reportedly chanted, Shoot him! Shoot him again! after Chase pleaded for his life. Williams later walked away and was himself shot and killed by two off-duty officers.

Chase’s death came nine days after another Dallas officer, James A. Joe, had been fatally shot while off duty, and it intensified scrutiny of the department amid racial tensions following fatal police shootings of two black residents in 1986 and 1987. Dallas Police Chief Billy Prince suggested criticism of officers contributed to the killing; Mayor Annette Strauss and City Manager Richard Knight publicly disagreed. Chase was survived by his wife, parents, and brother.

Does anyone have firsthand memories of the city’s response in late January 1988 or information about how the department and community reacted in the weeks after the shooting?