WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Tuesday marks Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Day in Texas, a day set aside each July 7 to honor officers killed in the line of duty.
The day is established under the Texas Government Code to recognize the ultimate sacrifice made by law enforcement officers across the state.
In Central Texas, that sacrifice has been felt across communities from Waco to Killeen, Copperas Cove, Cameron, Falls County, Temple and Freestone County.
KWTX reporting over the past two decades identified several law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty across Central Texas.
The most recent was Copperas Cove Police Officer Elijah Garretson, who was shot and killed Jan. 10, 2026, at the intersection of Great Hills Drive and Lost Trail. Garretson was 27 years old.
In 2023, Cameron Police Sgt. Joshua Clouse, 39, was killed while responding to a domestic call on May 10. Officers from across Texas and the nation traveled to Central Texas to honor him.
Two years earlier, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chad Walker was shot and killed March 26, 2021, on a rural road in Mexia. KWTX reported Walker was stopping to help what he believed was a stranded motorist when he was shot multiple times through the windshield of his patrol unit.
In 2019, Falls County Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Jones was struck and killed while helping a stranded motorist on Highway 6. Another driver lost control and hit both Jones and the Riesel police chief.
Central Texas also lost two DPS troopers in 2017.
Senior Trooper Thomas Nipper, who was stationed in Temple, was killed in November 2017 when his patrol car was struck from behind during a traffic stop on Interstate 35.
That same year, DPS Trooper Damon Allen, 41, of Teague, was killed on Thanksgiving Day during a traffic stop on Interstate 45 south of Fairfield. KWTX reported Allen was sitting in his patrol unit when the driver he had stopped opened fire with a rifle.
In Killeen, Officer Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie died May 11, 2014, days after he was shot during a SWAT operation. Dinwiddie served 18 years in law enforcement and continues to be remembered through the Fallen Heroes 5K in Killeen.
Officer Robert “Bobby” Layden Hornsby, 32, was shot and killed on July 14, 2013 while participating in a SWAT deployment at an apartment complex where a man had brandished an AK-47 rifle and then barricaded himself in an apartment.
Waco police also hold annual events to remember fallen officers. KWTX reported in 2026 that 11 Waco Police Department members have died in the line of duty, though those deaths happened between 1871 and 1989, outside the past 20-year window.
Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Day serves as a statewide reminder of the dangers officers face and the families, departments and communities left behind after a line-of-duty death.
Editor’s note: This list is based on KWTX reporting and includes Texas law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty across Central Texas over the past 20 years.
Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.