Gene Leroy Goldsberry, a 61-year-old White / Caucasian male, was working as a Special Deputy Marshal on August 5, 1993, a day that would end in tragedy at the Frank Carlson Federal Building in Topeka, Kansas. A veteran of the United States Army who had also served 25 years with the Kansas Highway Patrol before retiring, Goldsberry was a seasoned law enforcement officer.
On that fateful day, he was stationed at his post on the fourth floor, a familiar duty in a place of law and order.
The peace was shattered by a man who was scheduled to be sentenced on federal drug and weapons charges. The assailant's violent spree began outside the courthouse where he detonated a car bomb. He then proceeded into the building and took the elevator to the fourth floor. As the elevator doors opened, he immediately began firing. Gene Leroy Goldsberry was fatally shot, becoming the first victim in the deadly assault.
The gunman continued his rampage, wounding a man and a woman before his final act of violence. The assailant, with pipe bombs strapped to his body, took his own life with another explosion. Because the suspect died at the scene of the crimes, no arrests were ever made in connection with Goldsberry's murder. The violent attack not only claimed a dedicated officer's life but also left several others injured and a community in shock.
