In the pre-dawn hours of November 8, 1980, in Wichita, Kansas, a 24-year-old male police officer named Paul Garofalo was on routine patrol with his partner, Randy Mullikin. As they drove down the street, they stopped their marked cruiser to speak with two women. While Officer Garofalo, who was in the driver's seat, leaned over to talk to the women through the passenger side window, a man emerged from the shadows and approached the driver's side of the patrol car. The man was armed with a sawed-off shotgun and, without warning, fired twice through the driver's side window. Officer Garofalo was struck in the head and chest and died instantly. His partner, Officer Mullikin, was wounded in the legs by the shotgun pellets. Neither officer had the chance to draw their weapon. The gunman dropped his weapon and fled the scene on foot.
The senseless and brutal nature of the killing, which was the first death of a Wichita police officer in the line of duty in 17 years, sent shockwaves through the community. Investigators immediately began a search for the person responsible. The day after the shooting, on November 9, 1980, police arrested Ivory Haislip for the murder of Officer Garofalo. Another man, Anthony Ray Martin, was identified as a key witness in the case against Haislip. Witnesses at the scene and a subsequent confession Haislip made to acquaintances led to his arrest.
Ivory Haislip was tried three separate times for the murder of Officer Paul Garofalo and was convicted of first-degree murder in each trial. He was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. On December 26, 1999, after serving years of his sentence, Haislip died in prison from liver cancer. Officer Garofalo, a U.S. Army veteran who had been with the police department for just over a year, was survived by his wife and young daughter.
