Bio & Incident Details
Age: Not available
Tour: Not available
Badge # 39
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 11/5/1957
Weapon: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect: Sentenced to life
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Patrolman Wister Reese was shot and killed in Richmond County after stopping the driver of a vehicle for speeding.
After the shooting, the suspect fled but was later pulled over by Patrolman J. T. Brown in Lee County. During that stop the suspect also shot and killed Patrolman Brown. The vehicle, later found to be stolen, was being driven by a New York state mental hospital escapee. The escapee was en route to Mississippi to attempt to break his brother out of death row.
Three weeks later the suspect was captured in Bakersfield, California. Since his escape a month earlier, it was discovered that he was involved in numerous burglaries in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. He was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to two life terms on March 19, 1958. The suspect, who turned 90 in 2012, has repeatedly been denied parole and remains in prison. He is North Carolina's longest-serving inmate.
A section of U.S. 74 near Hamlet, North Carolina, was renamed in honor of Patrolman Reese. He is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina.
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Patrolman J. T. Brown |
