JPD honors and remembers ultimate sacrifice by Kennedy & Adair

Today marks the somber 40-year anniversary of two Juneau Police Department line-of-duty deaths. On April 17, 1979, tragedy struck when three Juneau Police Officers were shot in the line of duty. JPD Patrol Officer Jimmy Earl Kennedy and Traffic Officer Richard J. Adair were killed instantly. Officer Mike Stickler was shot in the leg during the incident and left the police force two months later.

The officers were responding to a report of a man shooting a gun at a passing motorist in the downtown highlands neighborhood. The shooter, Louis Sorenson, was inside his residence on Evergreen Avenue when he shot the officers. Sorenson killed himself after police deployed canisters of tear gas into his residence.

With the assistance of the Chief and staff of the Magee Police Department, a flower arrangement was delivered to Jimmy Kennedy’s grave in Magee, Mississippi this week. A wreath will be laid on Richard Adair’s grave in Juneau during the Alaska Peace Officers Association annual Police Memorial Ceremony which is tentatively scheduled for May 18th.