Sheriff Albert C. Gaston, 70, was shot on January 6, 1982, during a roadside investigation on State Highway 34 in Woodward County, Oklahoma. Gaston had stopped to check a vehicle linked to a possible burglary when a passenger stepped out and fired a .38 caliber revolver, striking the sheriff in the chest. Gaston returned fire and wounded the assailant, who was taken into custody and later convicted of assault with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury.

Gaston survived the initial attack and lived with the wound for four years while his career, which included 17 years with the Woodward County Sheriff’s Office, was changed forever. The gunshot injury ultimately proved fatal when he died on February 12, 1986. He was survived by his wife.

Did anyone in the Woodward County area at the time have memories of Sheriff Gaston or the 1982 roadside shooting that could add detail to the case?