Trooper David Bruce Ladner, 33, was shot during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 in Harrison County on Friday, April 10, 1987. While patrolling that afternoon he stopped a Lincoln for erratic driving and speeding. The driver, Tracy Alan Hansen, was accompanied by his girlfriend, Anita Louise Krecic. During the stop Trooper Ladner asked to search the vehicle; Hansen produced a .38 caliber handgun and shot Ladner in the chest, then fired again. Hansen took Ladner’s service weapon and patrol car and fled the scene.

Mortally wounded, Ladner managed to flag down a passing motorist and was taken to a local hospital. He died two days later, on Sunday, April 12, 1987. Ladner had served with the Mississippi Highway Patrol for nine years and was survived by his wife and three children. Hansen was later apprehended; Krecic was also implicated in the incident. Does anyone have information about Ladner’s patrol assignment or the family’s efforts after his death?