Deputy Sheriff Caleb Thomas Hopkins

Caleb Thomas Hopkins

Deputy Sheriff Tommie Hopkins was shot and killed while he and two Artesia police officers conducted a routine check of a cafe shortly after midnight.

The officers had just arrested two people and placed them in a patrol car when a patron in the cafe approached Deputy Hopkins and opened fire without warning, fatally wounding him. The two police officers returned fire, wounding the suspect. The man was charged with Deputy Hopkins murder.

The man, 35, plead guilty to first-degree murder in July 1943 and was sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled on December 12, 1952. On August 29, 1953, he stabbed and seriously wounded his wife in Albuquerque. The last information was police were looking for him.

Deputy Hopkins had served with the Eddy County Sheriff's Office for over six years. He was survived by his wife, daughter, five brothers, and two sisters.