Joseph Edd Roberts was a 73-year-old deputy with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department when he was killed on September 3, 1977, in Port Gibson, Mississippi. He had served about 12 years with the department. Roberts was attempting to arrest a suspect in a burglary when a struggle occurred and the suspect gained control of the deputy’s service weapon and fatally shot him.

He is survived by his wife and two children.