Thomas Clifford Dillon was 32 and serving as chief of the Bethel Police Department when he was shot and killed on November 19, 1972, in Bethel, Alaska. The confrontation began over a dead puppy that Elmer J. Nicholson, then 21, believed had been struck by a Yellow Cab vehicle. Nicholson had been drinking and, after earlier firing rounds inside the cab garage, returned with a 12-gauge shotgun and confronted taxi owner Norman Wallace. Chief Dillon arrived and ordered Nicholson to drop the weapon; an exchange of gunfire followed and Dillon was fatally wounded.

Witnesses disagreed about how many shotgun blasts were fired; Nicholson said the shotgun discharged once and that he did not intend to shoot, while others described multiple blasts. Investigators recovered five spent 12-gauge shells and two live shells at the scene, and later testing showed at least one unfired shell had been ejected from Nicholson’s shotgun. Nicholson was tried about 14 months later, convicted of first-degree murder by a jury, and received a life sentence. An undisclosed witness statement saying he heard one loud shotgun blast became a key issue on appeal.

If anyone knew Thomas Dillon, Elmer Nicholson, or was in Bethel on November 19, 1972, is there information that could clarify the sequence of gunfire or what led to the deadly confrontation?