On the night of February 5, 1986, 24-year-old Detroit police officer Mark Radden was fatally shot in a friendly-fire incident during plainclothes operations on the city’s north side. Radden, who had been with the department three months, and his partner were responding to a reported shooting at a house where a separate narcotics team was simultaneously conducting a raid. The two uncoordinated plainclothes units mistook one another for armed suspects and exchanged gunfire.

Officer Radden and 13-year veteran Giacomo Jack Buffa were both struck by rounds fired by fellow officers and died from their wounds. The department’s Board of Review conducted an investigation, and the event led to revised protocols intended to improve coordination and identification during undercover and plainclothes operations.

Who knew Mark Radden or Officer Buffa and can share details about their service or that night?