Officer Wallace Lawson was shot and killed chasing after a man who had fled an altercation.

On April 2, 1934, at approximately 1:00 am a waiter was struggling with a man at Bill's Cafe on Lafayette Street, after the man had assaulted him, when the commotion brought Lawson to the scene. He broke up the fight and told the man to go home. The man crossed the street and began to curse Officer Lawson but when Lawson closed with him the man ran. Officer Lawson followed the man to his home at the corner of Chestnut and Miller Streets. The suspect, now armed with a shotgun, emerged from behind the west side of the house as Officer Lawson stepped onto the porch. The suspect fired, shooting Officer Lawson in the abdomen and again in the chest. Officer Lawson struggled up the incline and collapsed on the curb. Officer Lawson was dead when neighbors reached him.

The suspect, James Turner, fled the scene but was arrested on his return to Jefferson City without incident. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary.

Officer Lawson joined the police department in 1933 and was survived by his wife, Sadie.
Interment: Longview Cemetery, Jefferson City, Missouri.