Special Agent Charles W. Elmore

Charles W. Elmore

Special Agent Charles Elmore and Special Agent Jared Robert Porter were shot and killed inside the FBI Field Office in El Centro, California.

The suspect had an appointment to see one of the agents about a request submitted under the Freedom of Information Act regarding an investigation of him as a member of the leftist Weather Underground group in the early 1970s, but no connection was ever found.

The suspect walked into the building with a shotgun in one hand and a .38-caliber pistol in the other. He knocked on the office door and Agent Porter answered and the suspect pointed the shotgun at him. The agent was able to deflect the barrel up and the first shot went into the ceiling and door frame. Agent Porter tackled the shooter in the hallway, and as they were wrestling around, the shooter pulled the pistol out and shot Agent Porter in the hip, arm, and chest, severing his aorta.

While the struggle was going on, Agent Elmore pulled his gun out and came to the doorway. He exchanged shots with the suspect, hitting him in the chest. The coroner said those wounds would have been fatal. The suspect's shots hit Agent Elmore in the arm and in the eye, killing him instantly. Before the shooter died from Agent Elmore's shots, he put the gun into his mouth and killed himself.

Agent Elmore, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served as a platoon commander during the Vietnam War, worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for five years.