On a late spring afternoon in the small community of Brookview, Maryland, the tranquility was shattered by a domestic dispute that would end in tragedy. It was June 8, 1979, and Maryland State Trooper William P. Mills, a 32-year-old Caucasian male and a nine-year veteran of the force, responded to a call for assistance from a man named Myron W. Thomas. Thomas had reported a possible assault or threat from his neighbor, setting in motion a chain of events that would claim two lives.
Upon his arrival at the rural trailer site around 4:30 p.m., Trooper Mills had just exited his patrol car when he was met with gunfire. He was struck in the chest by a shot from a. 38 caliber pistol, causing him to fall to the ground. As he desperately tried to draw his own service revolver, he was shot again, this time with a high-powered rifle. The same assailant also fatally shot the 31-year-old Thomas, the very man who had called for help.
A resident in the area, witnessing the horrific scene, used the radio in Trooper Mills' car to call for backup. Responding troopers arrived to a grim tableau, taking the suspect, Richard H. Bassett, a 68-year-old neighbor of Thomas, into custody at the scene. He was subsequently charged with two counts of murder. While Thomas was pronounced dead at the location, a state police helicopter rushed Trooper Mills to Peninsula General Hospital in Salisbury. Despite the efforts of medical personnel, he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at 5:45 p.m.
The legal proceedings that followed brought a resolution, though perhaps not the one many expected. On November 6, 1979, Richard H. Bassett was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Following the verdict, he was committed to a mental institution for the deaths of Trooper William P. Mills and Myron W. Thomas.
