Deputy Sheriff Kenneth B. Royal

Kenneth B. Royal

Deputy Kenneth Royal was shot and killed while responding as a backup officer to a felony car stop. Another officer had just stopped a vehicle which was suspected of being used in an armed robbery minutes earlier and one of the suspects had fled into the woods. As Deputy Royal was covered by other officers he began to approach the second suspect who was still in the vehicle. The suspect began to exit the vehicle and then suddenly pulled out a handgun and opened fire, fatally wounding Deputy Royal. Other officers on the scene returned fire and wounded the suspect.

The suspect was convicted of armed robbery and first degree murder and sentenced to death on October 25, 1968. His sentence was later commuted to life. On December 2, 1973, he escaped from San Quentin Prison. Before being captured four days later in Pinole, California, he committed two armed robberies, kidnapped a family of four, and attempted to crash through a police road block. He was taken into custody after being shot and wounded by Contra Costa County Deputies.

Deputy Royal was survived by his wife and four children.