Officer John R. Pasco, 27, was shot and killed on January 16, 1983, during a foot pursuit in Dallas, Texas. Pasco, a U.S. Air Force veteran who had served with the Dallas Police Department for one and a half years, had been pursuing a suspect who had been firing a handgun into the air. The suspect turned and shot Pasco in the head in the 1800 block of Park Avenue after Pasco had requested backup at the start of the chase.

The suspect, identified as Ramon Montoya, was apprehended shortly after the shooting. Montoya had been arrested by Pasco about ten months earlier for possessing a gun. Montoya was later convicted of capital murder; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction in Montoya v. State. Pasco was survived by his parents and is remembered by the Dallas Police Department and the community.

Did anyone in the area at the time witness the chase or have additional details about the suspect’s actions leading up to the shooting?