Deputy Sheriff Benjamin Hawkins Berry

Benjamin Hawkins Berry

Deputy Berry was shot and killed as he and Deputy Walter Eckert attempted to serve a felony warrant on a man for writing bad checks.

The deputies entered the man's residence on Grover Avenue after being told by a neighbor that the man was inside of the home. The suspect opened fire on the deputies with a M-1 carbine, striking Deputy Berry in the chest and Deputy Eckert in the hip and calf. Deputy Eckert returned fire but did not strike the suspect. The man was arrested and sentenced to 99 years in prison but released after serving only 13 years.

Deputy Eckert succumbed to his wounds on June 4, 1975.

Deputy Berry was survived by his son and by his wife, a dispatcher at the Travis County Sheriff's Office. It was his wife who received the first call of "Officer Down" at the Sheriff's office when her husband was shot and killed at the scene. He was buried with full honors.