Police Officer Billy Ray Watson, Sr.

Billy Ray Watson, Sr.

Police Officer Billy Watson was shot and killed when he walked into a robbery-in-progress at the Peachtree Mall at 3131 Manchester Expressway in Columbus.

At 2:00 a.m., a patron at the Final Approach Lounge drew a gun and was robbing the waitresses and a customer when Officer Watson entered the establishment to ensure they were closing. The subject turned around and shot Officer Watson in the head and chest, killing him instantly. A man who had entered the bar with Officer Watson was struck three times. The subject took Officer Watson's gun and grabbed a waitress, using her as a shield as he fled the bar. While he exited the mall, he fired into another bar, Brer Rabbit's, hitting one of their bartenders with his barrage of gunfire. He forced the waitress into a car and drove into Alabama.

The suspect was apprehended in Alabama three hours later. When officers stopped his car, his hostage was able to run from the vehicle. The suspect had begun his nine-hour crime spree earlier that night in Macon, Georgia, when he was involved in a fight with another man over $20. He shot and killed him and wounded another man before robbing a bar and then driving to Columbus, where he killed Officer Watson. He had planned to travel to Florida to kill his estranged wife. He was convicted of two counts of murder, two counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to death and executed on January 24, 2002.

Officer Watson was a United States Navy veteran and had served with the Columbus Police Department for six years. He was survived by his wife, three sons, a daughter, his father, and three sisters.