In the afternoon hours of October 3, 1994, a dedicated officer's life was tragically cut short in Montgomery, Alabama. Sergeant James Russell Ward, a 38-year-old male and a 12-year veteran of the Montgomery Police Department, was killed in the line of duty while pursuing two robbery suspects. The incident began shortly before 1:00 p.m. when two men, Lewis Andrew Lattimore and Willie Arthur Stallworth, entered the Riverside Food and Meat Market on Bell Street.
After gathering several items, Stallworth brandished a revolver and demanded money from the cashier. While Stallworth held the cashier at gunpoint, Lattimore emptied the cash register of approximately $2,500 and also stole the cashier's wallet.
Following the robbery, the two men fled on foot. A 911 call was made, and a description of the suspects was dispatched to all patrol cars. Sergeant Ward, who was in the vicinity, responded to the call. He spotted the two suspects near Greyhound and Loring Streets and began to pursue them. As he closed in, the suspects split up, with Lattimore running into a wooded area and Stallworth continuing down the street. Sergeant Ward followed Stallworth in his patrol car onto Loring Street. Less than a minute after he radioed that he had seen the suspects, Sergeant Ward sent out another transmission stating that he had been shot. Responding officers found him lying face down in the street; he had been fatally wounded.
Both suspects were subsequently apprehended and charged with the murder of Sergeant Ward. Lewis Andrew Lattimore was convicted of felony murder and, due to having four prior felony convictions, was sentenced as a habitual offender to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Willie Arthur Stallworth, the man who shot Sergeant Ward, was also convicted. He was sentenced to death for his crime. Stallworth later died in prison while on death row.
