Captain James Eugene Orr

James Eugene Orr

Captain James Orr was shot and killed by a 22 year old Massachusetts man wanted for armed robbery. A sequence of events started when a lone gunman entered the office of a mobile home dealership north of Camden; tied up the manager; and robbed him of $190 in cash. The manager worked himself free seconds after the suspect fled and called the sheriff's department. Captain Orr was patrolling in Lugoff when he spotted a car matching the description of the suspects vehicle given by the manager. Captain Orr pulled the car over and was shot several times by the suspect as he got out of his patrol car.

Later in the day the suspect abducted at gunpoint a mother and her four daughters from their home several miles away. He forced the mother with her four children to drive him in her car south toward Georgia. He released his hostages, unharmed, just outside of Savannah.

A few days later in Florida, a St. Augustine Police Officer received an anonymous phone call telling him where the suspect could be located. He went to a local residence and took the suspect into custody without incident.

The 21-year-old suspect was convicted of Captain Orr's murder, armed robbery, and five counts of kidnapping on October 24, 1973. He was sentenced to six life terms plus 26 years in prison. On April 17, 1976, he escaped from the South Carolina Penitentiary. He was captured in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 17, 1977, by FBI agents and U.S. marshals.

Captain Orr was to retire the following January. He was survived by his wife and daughter.