Officer Donald Sheppard was shot and killed during a traffic stop.

   While transporting two other officers after checking on an impounded car, he stopped a vehicle that was being driven erratically.

   The officers were unaware the driver was a convicted felon who had escaped from the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City two hours earlier.

   He was a trusty who had entered a guard's residence and tied up his 37-year-old wife before fleeing with three revolvers and their car.

   The 41-year-old man had escaped with the intention of killing his wife who was living in Gary when he was stopped. He opened fire as soon as Officer Sheppard exited their squad car but was shot and wounded by one of the other officers.

   Officer Sheppard was transported to St. Margaret Hospital in Hammond where he was pronounced dead moments later.

   The offender had been serving a 2- to 21-year sentence for rape in Marion County. He was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1994.

   Officer Sheppard was survived by his wife, 3- and 11-year-old daughters, 2-year-old son, parents and sister.