On July 13, 1984, Cotton Plant, Arkansas lost its police chief when 40-year-old Leonard E. Cross was fatally shot during a traffic stop. Cross, a two-year veteran of the Cotton Plant force and a U.S. Army veteran, and Patrolman Roy Leon Jr. approached a 16-year-old they suspected of stealing a motorcycle. A struggle ensued, the teenager obtained one of the officers’ service weapons and opened fire. Patrolman Leon died at the scene; Chief Cross died later at a local hospital.

The juvenile suspect fled but was captured about six hours later. He had an extensive juvenile record mainly for motorcycle thefts and past stays in juvenile detention. He was charged with two counts of capital murder, convicted on February 14, 1985, and sentenced to life without parole. The killings left the town without any full-time law enforcement officers.

Did anyone in Cotton Plant that summer of 1984 remember the officers or the response in the hours after the shooting?