Daniel O’Connor, 36, male, was a deputy sheriff in Phillips County, Arkansas, killed on August 24, 1935, during an attempt to take a suspect into custody. According to contemporary memorial records, deputies went to a residence to arrest a man suspected of drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident. As officers approached, the suspect’s 17-year-old son fired a rifle, fatally wounding O’Connor.
Reports further note that the teenage shooter died by suicide shortly after the attack, ending the immediate pursuit and foreclosing the possibility of an arrest of the gunman. The accounts do not identify additional assailants, and there is no indication in the available records of any arrests related to the shooting beyond the original, unrelated case that brought deputies to the home.
Separate records corroborate the date and place of death in Phillips County and indicate O’Connor’s age as thirty-six, aligning with a birth year of 1898 and death on August 24, 1935. He was buried at Maple Hill Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas. Memorial listings and gun-violence archives also record his death in the line of duty on that date.
