Why did Lawrence Police Officer William Garrett shoot and kill Rick “Tiger” Dowdell on July 16, 1970? The 263 relevant pages of a Kansas Bureau of Investigation file into one of Lawrence’s longstanding mysteries do little to help answer questions that have been raised over the last 52 years. But with the help of newly obtained investigative documents, Lawrence Times reporter Conner Mitchell has shed a bit more light on the case in this extended series.
We are very grateful for the Dowdell family’s trust and support of our push to obtain the records in this case.
We also sincerely thank our subscribers for making this series possible. We couldn’t do this without you. This kind of intensive research and storytelling takes a lot of time, and these kinds of records are expensive to pursue.
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The Murder of Tiger Dowdell: July 16, 1970
“We could’ve killed him, gone home and had dinner. That’s how strong the hate was,” Sakeim Dowdell recalled, 52 years after a Lawrence police officer shot and killed his younger brother, Rick “Tiger” Dowdell.
The Murder of Tiger Dowdell: A lasting impact
All told, Tiger Dowdell’s murder — at the hands of a police department that had threatened to kill him shortly before his death, his grandmother told the KBI — drastically changed the fabric of Lawrence.
The Murder of Tiger Dowdell: More questions than answers
A KBI case file leaves one prevailing question which may ultimately be lost to history: Why did Lawrence Police Officer William Garrett shoot and kill Rick “Tiger” Dowdell on July 16, 1970?
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Lawrence Historic Resources Commission defers decision on markers memorializing Tiger Dowdell, Nick Rice
Nearly four years after the conversation began to memorialize two teenagers killed by Lawrence police in 1970, the Historic Resources Commission on Thursday deferred a decision on the design and language of markers that would be placed near the scenes of the killings.
Markers memorializing Tiger Dowdell, Nick Rice could be back on city agendas in coming months
Markers remembering two teenagers killed by Lawrence police in the summer of 1970 could finally see their way back onto the agenda of the city’s Historic Resources Commission in the coming months.
City moving forward on markers to memorialize Tiger Dowdell and Nick Rice, killed by Lawrence police in 1970
Since the Lawrence City Commission in August 2020 approved creating historical markers to memorialize the 1970 police killings of two teenagers, the process to bring those markers to fruition has been slow, but it is moving forward.
KU Libraries Exhibits
The KBI declined to release its case file on Rick ‘Tiger’ Dowdell’s 1970 killing by Lawrence police; here’s why it matters (Analysis)
The KBI will, at least temporarily, continue to keep in the dark records that could finally shed light on a case of police violence that has been imprinted in the fabric of Lawrence for exactly 51 years.
What’s the status of the historical markers for Nick Rice and Tiger Dowdell’s deaths?
In the nine months since the Lawrence City Commission unanimously approved creating historical markers to memorialize two teenagers killed by Lawrence police, the conversation on what those markers might look like, where they’ll be placed, and how much they’ll cost has mostly gone silent.
IN JULY 1970, 18-year-old Nick Rice was shot and killed on the KU campus. The circumstances of the killing were murky, and the shooter was never publicly identified — until nearly 51 years later.
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