Police Officer Daniel Mark McPherren, Sr., Newton Police Department, Iowa

Police Officer Daniel Mark McPherren, Sr.

Newton Police Department, Iowa

End of Watch Friday, September 13, 1985

Daniel Mark McPherren, Sr.

Officer Daniel McPherren was shot and killed when he responded with other officers to a robbery at a local grocery store. He was posted at the the rear the store waiting for the robber to exit. A second robber was posted near the rear of the store as a lookout and a gunfight ensued between the officers and the suspects.

The fatal shot struck between the panels of Officer McPherren's vest. Both of the suspects were wounded and fled. Both had escaped from a minimum security prison in Newton. They were later apprehended and convicted of First Degree murder. Both received life sentences without parole for the murder of Officer McPherren. The subject who shot and killed Officer McPherren died in prison March 21, 2017. The other subject remains in prison.

Officer McPherren was survived by his wife and three children.

Bio

Age 36
Tour 11 years
Badge 8

Incident Details

Cause Gunfire
Weapon Handgun; .357 caliber
Offender Died in prison

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Most Recent Reflection

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I remember, as a little boy, how your kindness and respect that you showed me at a bowling pin shoot with a bunch of other police friends of my dad's...has never left me. I still , all these years , remember vividly the night we lost you when I was a teenager. Would love to meet your family someday, sir, as you smile upon them from heaven. Not one Sept 13 has passed that thoughts of you have not occurred, and prayers said. Several years ago, watching a new drama about the LAPD, something struck me. A conversation between a field training officer and his new boot who had to use lethal force their first shift together, when he told the young new officer, "You're a cop because you don't know how not to be one. If you feel that way, you're a cop. If you don't, you're not. You decide."
Officer McPherren, Sr. , you epitomized that statement. You were a kid's dad. A wife's great husband. A man's man, and a cop's cop. The world can only hope to have more like you. Now your family's and Newton PD's guardian Angel. Rest well, kind and good man.

B Groos
family friend/son of ISP Trooper 154, friend of Off McPherren

September 15, 2014