On August 24, 2001, Terry McDowell, a 35-year-old male police officer with the Whitehall Police Department in Ohio, was fatally shot while attempting to serve a traffic citation. McDowell and his partner went to the residence of a woman who had driven her husband home from the police station earlier that day after he had been arrested on a DUI charge. When it was discovered that the woman did not have a driver's license, the officers instructed her to walk home.
Upon arriving at the residence to serve the citation, the woman's husband fired a .357 caliber handgun through the door, striking McDowell in the chest above his vest. The suspect then fired a second time, hitting McDowell's partner in the face and eye, seriously wounding him. As McDowell's partner retreated and called for assistance, the suspect stood over McDowell's body and shot him several more times. Backup officers arrived on the scene and shot the suspect in the leg, but the suspect ultimately committed suicide in the backyard of his house.
The gun used by the suspect was found to have been stolen from the suspect's neighbor, who had been murdered. McDowell, a United States Army veteran, had served with the Whitehall Police Department for 12 years. He is survived by his wife, an 8-year-old son, and an 11-month-old daughter. The tragic incident led to the early retirement of McDowell's partner due to his injuries.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the Whitehall community and police from around central Ohio gathered annually on the anniversary of McDowell's death to honor his memory. McDowell's wife, Angie, founded the organization "Get Behind the Badge," which provides emotional and material support to the families of officers killed in the line of duty. McDowell's son, Seth, later became a Union County sheriff's deputy and often speaks at his father's memorial ceremony each August.
The case did not result in any arrests or litigations beyond the suspect's suicide, as he was the sole perpetrator. The incident remains a poignant reminder of the dangers faced by law enforcement officers in the line of duty.
