Officer Raymond J. McMaster

Raymond J. McMaster

Officer Raymond McMaster was shot and killed after stopping a taxi cab on State Highway 7 following a robbery in Lyons.

He and his partner had positioned their car on Route 7 in anticipation the vehicle would come to Boulder. They observed the taxi and conducted a traffic stop. As Officer McMaster approached the car one of the men inside opened fire, fatally wounding him. As the three sped away his partner opened fire with a shotgun, wounding two. One was apprehended the same day. FBI agents apprehended the other two 10 days later in Denver.

Two of the suspects, brothers, 22 and 32, with long criminal records, were sentenced to life and the third, 31, was acquitted of murder but convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 20 years. The sentence of the oldest brother was commuted to 30 years to life in March of 1972. The other brother, who fired the fatal shots, was denied parole on July 1, 1977.

Officer McMaster had served with the Boulder Police Department for four years.