On the evening of September 13, 1985, Daniel Mark McPherren Sr., a 36-year-old Caucasian male and a dedicated police officer in Newton, Iowa, responded to an armed robbery in progress at a local Hy-Vee grocery store. Having served with the Newton Police Department for eight years, this was a call to duty he had answered many times before. Little did he know, this particular dispatch would be his last.
Positioned at the rear of the store, Officer McPherren and his fellow officers anticipated the exit of the robber. Unbeknownst to them, a second suspect was acting as a lookout. A fierce gunfight erupted between the officers and the two armed men. In the exchange of bullets, a single. 357 caliber round found its way between the panels of Officer McPherren's protective vest, striking him with a fatal blow.
The two suspects, wounded in the shootout, managed to escape the scene, sparking an intense manhunt that left the community in fear. The individuals were later identified as Lawrence Gladson and Dennis Lamar, both of whom had recently escaped from a minimum-security prison in Newton. Their freedom was short-lived.
Gladson was apprehended the following day in Des Moines, while Lamar was captured several weeks later in Minneapolis. Both men were subsequently convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Officer McPherren and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gladson, the man who fired the fatal shot, died in prison on March 21, 2017. His accomplice remains incarcerated. Officer McPherren was survived by his wife and three children.
