By Steven Alford
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
City Marshal Elias T. Mussett Jr. was patrolling on horseback in the early hours of May 6, 1892, after a Cinco de Mayo parade.
He had just been elected to another term, beating John Parker, who had threatened his life more than once.
Mussett stopped to speak with a man outside a bar about 1 a.m. when Parker rode up and killed Mussett with one shot from his pistol.
He was the first Corpus Christi police officer to be killed in the line of duty and one of 21 officers and deputies to be honored today at the fifth annual Regional Peace Officer Memorial Day Ceremony.
It’s a joint effort among the police department, the Nueces County Sheriff’s Office, Port of Corpus Christi police and county constables offices.
“One hour out of the year is not too much to ask to take time to show how much we care,” said Cmdr. Todd Green of the Corpus Christi Police Department.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott will be the keynote speaker. The event honors those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, spanning sheriff’s deputies killed in the 1860s, to the most recent, officer Stuart J. Alexander, killed March 11, 2009, after being struck by a vehicle involved in a car chase while the officer was laying road spikes on South Padre Island Drive.
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