Bobby D. Howard was 24 and about one year into his service with the Williamson Police Department when he died on December 30, 1979.

Public memorial listings and law-enforcement records consistently treat the shooting as a line-of-duty accidental death. Those accounts do not identify the other officer, describe how the gun came to discharge, specify the firearm type, or indicate exactly where Howard was struck. No arrest, charge, or later reclassification of the incident as an intentional homicide is reported in the memorial records.