James Walter Harbin, 22, was killed on the evening of March 18, 1979, in Las Vegas. Harbin had only recently joined the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as a correctional officer on February 7, 1979, and was in uniform when he stopped at a Circle K at 3500 E. Charleston Blvd. to buy a pack of Life Savers. An armed robbery was underway inside; the clerk tried to warn him, but the gunman, seeing Harbin’s uniform, fired a small automatic pistol at close range. Harbin died in the ambulance en route to Sunrise Hospital and was pronounced dead shortly before 10 p.m.

The shooting prompted a manhunt that led officers to a trailer at Pecos Park Coach Club where the suspect, identified as Phillip Tomanchero, had barricaded himself. After several hours negotiators persuaded him to surrender and he was taken into custody without further shots fired. If anyone knew Officer Harbin, saw him that night, or has information about the events at the Circle K or the trailer at Pecos Park Coach Club, please share what you know.