Samuel Leonard was a 26-year-old deputy sheriff with the Concho County Sheriff’s Office who was killed on May 10, 2021, while responding to a dog complaint in Eden, Texas. He and fellow deputy Stephen Jones and an Eden city employee were dispatched at about 8:40 p.m.; the situation escalated to gunfire after deputies first encountered the suspect, Jeffrey Nicholas, in his vehicle. Nicholas fled, barricaded himself in his home and opened fire, leaving Leonard and Jones fatally shot and the city employee critically wounded.

Leonard had recently returned to the Concho County Sheriff’s Department after about a year and a half as a patrol deputy with the Dawson County Sheriff’s Department. He was married to his wife Morgan and they had a young daughter, Magnolia. Colleagues and the community mourned both deputies; donations were collected for the families and Leonard’s funeral was held at First Baptist Church in Lamesa, where he had grown up.

The suspect, Jeffrey Nicholas, a 28-year-old male, was arrested and charged with capital murder for the deaths of the two deputies. Does anyone have information about that night or knew Deputy Leonard and his work in the community?