In the late afternoon of June 27, 1981, Oakland officers were sent a second time to a residence regarding a boyfriend-girlfriend dispute. Officers Michael Faulkner and Dennis Dutra arrived at the scene and learned that the disturbing party was gone. Faulkner began a search of the area. Dutra learned where the subject resided and passed the information to Faulkner by radio. Dutra placed the girlfriend in his vehicle and proceeded over to the suspect’s residence.

As Dutra pulled onto the street where the suspect resided, he saw Faulkner’s car stopped in the middle of the street. Faulkner had a shirtless male stopped at the rear of his vehicle. The girlfriend of the suspect pointed to him and made a positive identification.

At that point, the subject began to walk hurriedly away from Faulkner. While doing so he reached inside his pants and began to pull out a large handgun. He spun around and began to fire on Faulkner. Faulkner and Dutra returned fire. The suspect fell to the ground, dead. Dutra looked over and saw Faulkner on the ground. He went to his aid and saw that he had suffered a serious gunshot wound to the head.

Faulkner, a 9-year veteran of Oakland Police Department, died of his wound while enroute to the hospital. He was survived by his wife and three children.