On the evening of October 6, 1986, Detroit Police Officer Freddie Lee Jackson, 42, was killed while working a plainclothes detail. A 14-year veteran of the force and a former U.S. Army serviceman, he and a partner were checking a vehicle near the 15000 block of Idaho after spotting three men tampering with it. As the officers inspected the car, a man emerged from a nearby building carrying a shotgun. Believing the plainclothes officers were thieves attacking his property, he fired and struck Officer Jackson in the chest; the wound proved fatal.

The shooter was arrested and later convicted of involuntary manslaughter; reports describe the killing as an error in judgment rather than premeditated malice. Officer Jackson left behind a wife and four children. If anyone knew Officer Jackson, his family, or witnessed events in that neighborhood on October 6, 1986, please share what was seen or remembered.