In the pre-dawn hours of May 14, 1980, a sense of routine duty filled the air for Little Rock Police Detective Noel Don McGuire. At 23 years old, the male officer had already dedicated five years to the force, a tenure that belied his youth. That morning, while working a vice detail, he initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Roosevelt and Arch Streets after a yellow Jeep ran a red light. The stop, seemingly ordinary, would prove to be tragically fatal.
Unbeknownst to McGuire, the two individuals in the vehicle had just committed an armed robbery at a Majik Market store in a neighboring county, where they had shot the clerk.
As Detective McGuire questioned the occupants of the Jeep and turned to walk back to his patrol car, one of the suspects emerged from the vehicle and opened fire. McGuire was struck in the back, leg, and stomach. Despite his grave injuries, he managed to get on his radio and call for help. Fellow officers arrived to find him in the front seat of his car and rushed him to the University of Arkansas Medical Center, but his wounds were too severe, and he was pronounced dead. The suspects, later identified as 15-year-old Edward Eugene Little and 16-year-old David Russell Butler, fled the scene.
A massive manhunt ensued, and the two teenage suspects were apprehended just five hours later at a roadblock in Oklahoma by state police. Their capture revealed a wider crime spree, as they were wanted for questioning in connection with several other offenses across multiple states, including Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The investigation determined that Little was the shooter. Both he and his accomplice, Butler, were convicted of first-degree murder. They were each sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the killing of Detective McGuire.
