Martin S. Sowders was 29 and a deputy with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office when he was killed in Vancouver, Washington, after a November 18, 1976 traffic stop tied to a pharmacy robbery. Deputies had located a vehicle linked to the suspect in the Hazel Dell Hi School Pharmacy theft; the driver, identified as Larry William Edwards, a convicted felon on parole and an escaped convict from the Washington State Penitentiary, refused to exit and was seen swallowing pills. A struggle occurred when deputies tried to remove him and a fellow deputy’s firearm discharged, the bullet striking Sowders in the right temple.

He was taken to the hospital and died the next day, November 19, 1976. The shooting was ruled an accidental discharge during the arrest; Edwards was arrested for the robbery. Sowders was survived by his wife and son, and the Clark County Operations Center was later renamed in his honor near the street where the shooting occurred.

Does anyone have additional information about that day or knew Deputy Sowders?