Plainview Police Department, Texas
End of Watch: Monday, July 17, 1961
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 4 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: July 17, 1961
Weapon Used: Handgun; 9 mm
Suspect Info: Sentenced to 25 years
Sergeant Virgle Thompson was shot and killed while questioning a suspicious male near the railroad tracks at Milwaukee Street.
Backup units located Sergeant Thompson suffering from several gunshot wounds. They found his empty service revolver and an the empty 9 mm Luger pistol the suspect shot him with. As the suspect fled Sergeant Thompson fired all six shots. A suspect, 32, was arrested and hospitalized with two gun shot wounds in his back.
On March 26, 1963, his wife came to visit him in jail. He asked permission to kiss her. Instead he plunged a piece of wire sharpened into a spike into her cheek. The cut required 12 stitches and she was left with a permanent scar. The man was first found guilty of transporting illegal liquor and sentenced to two years in the county jail. He was later convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years.
Sergeant Thompson had been employed with the Plainview Police Department for four years. He is survived by his wife and daughter. He was a military policeman at Fort Smith, Arkansas, at one time.