The Ocala Police Department’s former assistant chief was honored in a special way last week.
On May 28, 1955, Mahlon Otis (M.O.) Tuck, was shot and killed while on duty. He was responding to the scene of the murders of Marion County deputies Robert Wooten and Chris Youngblood. They were shot and killed as they approached the home of a mentally ill man.
As officers responding to the initial shooting surrounded the home, the suspect opened fire a second time and fatally wounded Tuck, who left behind a wife, three sons, and two daughters. The man who fired upon the officers was taken into custody and later died while in a state mental hospital.
On Thursday, the Ocala Police Department honored Tuck’s memory when his great-grandson, Officer Richard “Connor” Tuck, and his grandson, Marion County sheriff’s Dep. Billy Dieitrich, raised four flags in his honor. The flags were flown for 15 minutes above the police department, then properly folded and given to each of Tuck’s surviving families.