On the morning of August 9, 1982, 49-year-old Riley County Police Department veteran Donald Harbour was shot and killed while responding to a pawn shop call in Manhattan, Kansas. Harbour, a 22-year department member, arrived at about 10:30 a.m. after a report of a man trying to sell a stolen rifle. He approached a car parked outside where two men were waiting and ordered the occupants out; the passenger produced a handgun and an exchange of gunfire followed. Harbour was struck in the chest; the shot severed his aortic artery and proved fatal despite emergency aid from an army medic who happened to be nearby. Harbour did manage to return fire, striking the suspects’ vehicle and a tire.

The two men fled; the driver was captured after a short foot chase and later charged as an accessory to first-degree murder. The passenger, who fired the fatal shot, carjacked a woman, released her after a high-speed pursuit, then died by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head when he encountered a massive roadblock and his vehicle crashed. The man who had been inside the pawn shop was detained by the shop owner and charged with burglary and attempting to sell stolen goods.