Crowley Police Department, Texas
End of Watch: Tuesday, February 13, 1979
Age: 25
Tour of Duty: 5 years
Badge Number: 101
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: February 13, 1979
Weapon Used: Officer's handgun
Suspect Info: Life sentence
Officer Carpenter was shot and killed after stopping a pickup truck which had been reported stolen from Fort Worth earlier in the night. After confirming that the truck was stolen and that the two occupants were wanted, he placed them both in his cruiser, with one in the back seat and the other in the front seat. The suspect in the front seat suddenly lunged at Officer Carpenter in an attempt to grab his gun.
The two struggled and Officer Carpenter began to overpower the suspect. The second suspect then began to help and the suspect in the front seat gained control of the weapon. The suspects ordered Officer Carpenter out of the cruiser and he complied. He then jumped back into the cruiser in an attempt to take the keys out of the ignition. When he did so the suspect shot him in the chest, fatally wounding him.
The suspects fled the scene but were arrested several days later in Louisiana. The shooter, 36, was sentenced to death but was retried seven years later and sentenced to life. In 2007 he received an additional three years for an attack on a fellow inmate with a knife in 2003. He was denied parole on September 15, 2020. His next parole hearing is in August of 2025. The other suspect, 22, was released on parole after several years.
Officer Carpenter had been in law enforcement for five years and was survived by his wife and stepdaughter.