On October 19, 1964, Donald Thomas Dull, a white 28-year-old male serving as Chief of Detectives with the Juneau Police Department, was mortally wounded inside the police station in Juneau, Alaska. Contemporary and retrospective accounts agree that a colleague's sidearm discharged indoors, and the single round struck the 28-year-old male while he was seated in his office. In one description, the colleague is identified as a court bailiff who drew a.
38-caliber revolver; in another, the incident occurred while officers were practicing quick-draw drills. Either way, the moment was sudden and irreversible, turning an ordinary workday into a line-of-duty death for the 28-year-old male.
Officials examined what went wrong. A coroner's jury concluded the shooting was accidental, finding that the other officer's firearm safety had been rendered inoperable by foreign matter in the firing mechanism—an explanation that fit the abrupt, unintended discharge that killed the 28-year-old male. In departmental histories and memorials since, his death is recorded as an inadvertent gunfire fatality, the earliest on record for the Juneau Police Department.
Accounts that identify the colleague as a court bailiff describe the weapon going off as it was removed from its holster; those that place the event during quick-draw practice at the station likewise emphasize the accidental nature. No suspects were sought and no arrests were recorded; the official conclusion was misadventure rather than a criminal act. Public remembrances from local media and law-enforcement memorial organizations continue to mark the date and honor the 28-year-old male's service, underscoring that the tragedy stemmed from a malfunction and unsafe moment rather than intent.
