Deputy Sheriff William Sweem and Sheriff William Mull were shot and killed while attempting to arrest a subject who had just killed the family who lived next door to him.

   The subject killed a 38-year-old female neighbor with an axe, then shot and killed her 8-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter before walking toward the town square.

   Sheriff Mull and Deputy Sweem located the man near the Old National Bank and confronted him. The suspect then shot and killed both officers before fleeing the scene.

   The 21-year-old man later died by suicide when he was surrounded by a posse after he fled to the county fairgrounds north of town.

   Deputy Sheriff Sweem, from Rockville, had been appointed a jail guard by Sheriff Mull only two days before the incident occurred. He was survived by his wife and three children.