In the line of duty on a cold January evening in Indianapolis, Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Gerald L. Morris, a 28-year-old white male, made the ultimate sacrifice. It was January 2, 1981, when Deputy Morris, though off-duty, was working a security detail in his uniform. He responded to a robbery in progress at the Bargain Barrel Clothing Store on East 82nd Street, arriving in a marked security vehicle.
Unbeknownst to him, another officer, Deputy Sheriff Terry Baker, had already been fatally wounded at the scene.
Upon entering the store, Deputy Morris was immediately met by the armed robbers. An intense gun battle erupted, and he managed to wound one of the suspects. Retreating to his car to call for backup, the confrontation spilled out into the open. The second suspect, now armed with the service revolver taken from the fallen Deputy Baker, engaged in another exchange of gunfire with Deputy Morris. In this final, tragic exchange, both Deputy Morris and the second suspect were fatally wounded. They were both later pronounced dead at St. Vincent Hospital.
The investigation that followed revealed the two suspects were former cellmates from a federal prison. The suspect who had been wounded by Deputy Morris, a 39-year-old man, managed to flee the scene. His freedom was short-lived, however, as he was apprehended the following day in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was subsequently convicted for the murders of both Deputy Morris and Deputy Baker and received two concurrent 60-year sentences, in addition to seven concurrent 30-year terms for robbery. He would spend the remainder of his life behind bars, dying in prison in 1999. The other suspect, aged 31, died from the wounds inflicted by Deputy Morris during the initial confrontation. Deputy Morris had served with the Marion County Sheriff's Department for two years and had previously been a deputy marshal with the Cumberland Police Department.
