Deputy Jerry Inman was shot and killed when he interrupted a robbery in progress at a local convenience store.

On May 25, 1968 at 2:35 am, three suspects were in the process of robbing the Hood's DX Travel Mart west of Springfield, Missouri at the junction of Interstate 44 and Greene County North at gunpoint when Deputies Inman and Flanigan pulled up in their patrol car. The suspects shot Deputy Inman in the chest and shoulder killing him almost instantly. Deputy Flanigan was struck in the right side but able to return fire keeping two suspects from returning to their car. The third suspect was able to return to the car fleeing the scene with the vehicle while the other two suspects fled on foot. The two suspects on foot, Earnest Lansdown and Russell Maggard, were quickly captured and a third juvenile suspect was located in a barn north of Republic, Missouri after a 6-hour manhunt. Lansdown and Maggard were both convicted of first degree murder. The juvenile was remanded as a youthful offender.

Deputy Inman joined the department in 1966 after serving in the Air Force for four years. Service: High Street Baptist Church. Interment: White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Springfield, Missouri.