United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service, U.S. Government
End of Watch: Saturday, May 26, 1990
Age: 50
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: May 26, 1990
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Sentenced to life
Park Ranger Robert McGhee was shot and killed in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park, Mississippi, by two convicts who had escaped from a Florida correctional facility. The convicts were able to steal a .38 caliber revolver from one of the corrections officers during the escape.
A female hostage the two had taken was able to escape and notified police of their location, causing the suspects to flee into the park. Ranger McGhee stopped the suspects when they ran a stop sign, not knowing that they were wanted. During the stop the suspects opened fire, killing Ranger McGhee.
The suspects were apprehended after a shootout with another police officer in which one of the suspects was wounded. They were found guilty of murder of a federal police officer and sentenced to life in prison.
One of the suspects, John Woolard, later escaped from Parchman Prison in 2000 with yet another prisoner. He was recaptured, after an extensive manhunt, in Lowell, Indiana.
Ranger McGhee was survived by his wife, Linda, and their daughter Karla, and Kevin McGhee.