William Francis Lowry was a 39-year-old Tacoma Police Department officer killed on August 28, 1997, during a residential standoff. The incident began earlier that morning when Sap Kray, a Cambodian immigrant, confronted his estranged wife at Emerald Downs in Auburn; Auburn officers found Kray agitated and armed but allowed him to leave. Kray later went to his wife Sameun’s home on East 57th Street in Tacoma, where Tacoma police and SWAT responded after she reported his presence and Kray was believed to be holding two children inside.

Negotiations continued through the morning and at about 10:00 a.m. Kray stepped onto the porch and was struck by two nonlethal rubber projectiles. He then seized a 7.62 mm SKS rifle and, as SWAT officers including Officer Lowry moved in, fired a shot that struck Lowry in the chest, the bullet exiting and wounding another officer. Lowry died later that day at Harborview Medical Center. Kray was shot by officers during the encounter, left paralyzed from the waist down, and was arrested and charged with aggravated first-degree murder.

Did anyone in Tacoma know Officer Lowry or have information about the standoff that morning?