Today we remember Corrections Officer James Walter Harbin III, who died 38 years ago on this day in 1979. He would have been 60 years old.

Officer Harbin II joined the LVMPD on February 7, 1979. On March 18, 1979, only 6 1/2 weeks after he was hired, Officer Harbin was shot and killed in a convenience store robbery. He had stopped at the store en route to work. The store clerk tried to warn him of the robbery in progress. The suspect mistook Officer Harbin’s corrections uniform for that of a police officer’s and shot him. The suspect was later apprehended after holding police at bay for several hours.

Officer Harbin was only 22 years old when he died and was survived by his parents.