Sheriff Clifford Peak

Clifford Peak

Sheriff Clifford Peak succumbed to gunshot wounds, and his deputy was seriously wounded by a 64-year-old unemployed well driller while responding to a domestic disturbance.

A member of the suspect's family had asked for a gun to be taken away from him because he had threatened ‘to kill the whole bunch.’ When Sheriff Peak and his deputy approached the suspect, who was walking across a pasture, and ordered him to drop his gun, he suddenly opened fire. Hours later, the suspect was captured in a woods near Double Springs. During the capture, he shot and wounded the Lamar County Sheriff.

Sheriff Peak was transported to Wilson Hospital, where he died from his wounds.

The suspect was convicted of first-degree murder on October 19, 1951, and sentenced to life. On November 22, 1955, he received an additional 25 years for shooting the Lamar County Sheriff. He died in prison in 1962.

Sheriff Peak was a United States Army World War II veteran and had served as sheriff of the Winston County Sheriff's Office for six months and eighteen days. He was survived by his mother, six brothers, three sisters, two uncles, and one aunt.