Marshal Dolar LaPlant

Dolar LaPlant

Marshal Dolar LaPlant was shot and killed while responding to a shots fired call while unarmed.

A suspect had been walking down Center Street randomly firing a gun. After Marshal LaPlant received a report of the incident he went directly to the suspect's home and began talking to the man's wife. While there the suspect arrived.

Marshal LaPlant asked him if he was the man firing a gun in the street. The suspect replied "Yes" and then fired a shot from his pocket, striking Marshal LaPlant in the liver. Although mortally wounded, Marshal LaPlant was able to overpower the suspect, take his gun, and and shot him in the head as he took him into custody. Marshal LaPlant succumbed to his wound the following day.

The suspect, age 27, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. On December 22, 1926, the suspect died on the operating table of a Walla Walla hospital as doctors attempted to remove the bullet that Marshal LaPlant had fired into his head.