In the line of duty, 30-year-old Corporal Edgar Blaine Rains, Jr. of the Northglenn Police Department, a man with five years of service, lost his life. His death came unexpectedly on May 30, 1984, during a response to a volatile domestic dispute where a husband was threatening his wife with a handgun.
As Corporal Rains and his fellow officers arrived at the residence, they strategically approached from one side.
They observed the armed man moving towards a glass sliding door on the opposite end of the house. In an effort to assess the suspect's location and gain a tactical advantage, Corporal Rains moved to the other side of the home, peering over a fence. At that moment, the suspect emerged from the house and aimed his weapon at the other officers.
In the tense standoff, another officer discharged his shotgun at the suspect. The blast, tragically, found an unintended path. It traveled through gaps in a brick wall and a privacy fence, passed through a narrow opening between a gutter spout and a wall, and struck Corporal Rains as he looked over the fence. While the other officers successfully subdued and arrested the suspect, they were initially unaware of the grave injury sustained by their colleague. Corporal Rains succumbed to his wounds at the scene.
The man at the center of the domestic dispute, whose actions precipitated the fatal chain of events, was later tried and convicted. However, his conviction was for aggravated assault for menacing his wife, not for the death of Corporal Rains, which was determined to be the result of friendly fire. Corporal Rains was survived by his wife and two children.
