MSG Gerald W. Taylor, a 72-year-old White male and decorated U.S. Army veteran, was shot and killed in his Walla Walla, Washington, home on January 8, 2021. Officers responding to reports of shots fired just after noon found Taylor deceased from a gunshot wound; another man, his son Patrick Taylor, suffered a gunshot wound to the hip and was taken to a regional medical center.

The investigation focused on a family member. Stephen A. Taylor, then 47, was arrested after an argument over whether he should move out. Court documents say a physical fight between Stephen and Patrick escalated when Stephen produced a handgun; during the struggle Patrick was shot in the hip and Gerald Taylor, who had come downstairs to intervene, was fatally shot. Stephen admitted firing the gun and claimed self-defense; he was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

A jury later acquitted him of those original charges and convicted him of second-degree manslaughter of a family member with a firearm; he was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Gerald Taylor was remembered as a Vietnam veteran who earned multiple Purple Hearts and as a longtime JROTC instructor and rifle coach at Walla Walla High School. Does anyone have information about Gerald’s life in Walla Walla or memories to share that might shed light on his final days?