A Department Remembers the Sacrifice of a Fallen Hero

Today, members of the Baltimore County Police Department remember Fallen Hero Officer John W. Stem, who died on October 19, 2000, from a line-of-duty shooting that occurred in 1977.
On July 6, 1977, Stem, 27, and Officer Charles A. Huckeba, 26, arrived in the 2400 block of Brunswick Road in the Precinct 1 Wilkens area to respond to a call from a father having trouble with his unruly 19-year-old son. It was learned later that the 19-year-old gunman was under the influence of PCP and heavily armed. As the gunman's father and Officer Huckeba began to approach the house, the 19-year-old male inside the home sprayed the street with bullets. Huckeba was shot in the upper body and fatally wounded. 
While summing help, Officer Stem was struck in the upper back by one of the bullets and paralyzed. Twenty-three years later, at age 51, Stem paid the ultimate sacrifice when he died from complications related to that shooting.
Stem's name is inscribed on the Police Memorial for Fallen Officers at Patriot Plaza in Downtown Towson.