KYW Flashback: New Jersey Police Shootings Trigger Long Standing Debate
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (CBS) - Mount Holly, New Jersey was a quiet town until that March evening in 1975 when shots were fired from an upper floor window on Garden Street.
Two police officers lay dead outside and a third would die of his wounds, fired from an assault rifle. The tragedy raised issues that are still being debated today.
James Carhart, a Vietnam Vet and Army sharpshooter had gunned down the officers as they responded to a call about a man with a gun.
KYW's South Jersey bureau reported the events right through Carhart's trial and beyond. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
It was long before the term "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" was coined, but it launched a discussion about how well society was prepared to deal with mental issues among returning veterans. It also raised another hotly debated controversy still plaguing cities and suburbs - the deadly firepower, loose on American streets.