On October 22, 1976 at approximately 7:55 a.m., Officer John LeCompte responded to Dudler Drive in Arnold to investigate a suspicious person call. As he arrived on the scene, the dispatcher advised Officer LeCompte that the suspect was attempting to force entry into a residential garage.

A short time later, residents on Dudler Drive reported hearing shots being fired in the area of the call. The investigation determined that Officer LeCompte had become involved in a struggle with the suspect. During the struggle, the suspect obtained control of Officer LeCompte’s duty weapon and shot Officer LeCompte in the back, the bullet lodged in his spinal cord and paralyzed Officer LeCompte from the shoulders down. The suspect then took Officer LeCompte’s hat, duty weapon and patrol car and fled the scene.

School children waiting for a bus informed police that they saw the suspect driving the Arnold Police car turn off of Jeffco Boulevard onto Hollywood Beach Road.

Officers from the St. Louis County Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department joined with Arnold Police in a manhunt for the suspect, later identified as Melvin Dwight Foote. Police pulled the suspect from the Meramec River the next day after he was wounded in an exchange of gunfire.

Officer LeCompte was treated at St. Anthony’s Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds on November 21, 1976.

The suspect was charged with capital murder. He was committed to Fulton State Hospital on September 22, 1978 after he was diagnosed to be suffering from schizophrenia. In 1983, the suspect unsuccessfully appealed his commitment asserting he was no longer mentally ill. His appeal was denied.

Officer LeCompte was a US Navy veteran serving in Korea. He had served with the police department for two years. He was survived by his two young daughters. Interred: National Cemetery, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.