On a summer afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, the community was shaken by a violent act that claimed the lives of three police officers. On June 17, 2004, Officer Charles Robert Bennett, a 33-year-old male, was killed in the line of duty. He had been a member of the Birmingham Police Department for three years, serving in the West Precinct.
The tragic event unfolded at approximately 1:30 p.m. in the Ensley area of the city.
Officer Bennett, along with three other officers, was attempting to serve a misdemeanor assault warrant at a residence. As two officers entered the apartment from the rear to apprehend the suspect, the individual managed to break away and ran towards the front of the home. It was at this moment that a second man inside the apartment opened fire with an SKS rifle. The sudden and intense gunfire resulted in the deaths of Officer Bennett and two of his colleagues, Officer Carlos Winston Owen, 58, and Officer Harley Alfred Chisholm, III, 40. A fourth officer was also wounded in the attack.
In the immediate aftermath, a tactical team responded to the scene and took the shooter and several other suspects into custody. The subsequent investigation led to the conviction of two men, aged 27 and 24 at the time, on capital murder charges. Both were sentenced to death for their roles in the deadly shooting. Years later, on March 5, 2020, the older of the two convicted men was executed. Officer Bennett is survived by his wife and daughter, who was four years old at the time of his death.
