Deputy Brian E. Meilbeck, 26, was killed on April 1, 1997, after only six weeks with the Yuba County Sheriff's Department. He and two other deputies were responding to a domestic disturbance in Olivehurst involving two brothers, one reported shot in the leg. As the deputies approached, a suspect fired a shotgun through a window; pellets struck Meilbeck above his bulletproof vest and severed his aorta. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The suspect, Phillip Peterson, was arrested about 20 minutes later following a standoff in which additional shots were fired. Meilbeck’s funeral on April 8, 1997, drew nearly 2,000 law enforcement officers. Colleagues remembered him as hardworking and committed to helping others; he had worked as a security officer and trained at Sacramento City College’s Public Safety Center before joining the department.