1982

August 18, 1982
Gunfire  @ 2505 W. Bay Area Blvd.

DOB – 2/24/1982, Age 34
Badge – 1872
Class #89
Final Resting Place –    Brookside Manor, Houston TX 

On Wednesday, August 18, 1982, elements of the Houston Police Narcotics Division had arranged a "buy bust" in the 2400 block of West Bay Area Blvd. A narcotics suspect had arranged to sell 100 mandrax tablets to undercover officers posing as dope peddlers. At 7:30 p.m., the buy took place. Officer Kathleen Schaefer was working undercover in plain clothes. As the bust went down, a uniformed Houston Police Department officer, unaware that she was a fellow officer, confronted her. She had pulled her service weapon to protect her fellow undercover officer, who was in the car she was standing by, since the suspect was about to be arrested. The uniformed officer, not knowing Officer Schaefer was a police officer, fired his weapon believing the other narcotics officer's life was in danger. Officer Kathleen Schaefer was shot once in the chest. The Life Flight Helicopter was called but at 8:10 p.m., Officer Kathleen Schaefer passed away.

Officer Schaefer became a Houston police officer in 1979. She exemplified herself among her fellow officers and was known for her hard work. She not only worked very hard as a police officer but was very active in her church as well. "For some time, Mrs. Schaefer taught religion classes for us, even though her long hours often made it rough on her," said Rev. Jay Walsh of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Missouri City, where Officer Schaefer and her family regularly attended mass. "Sometimes she would even show up on her uniform to teach the children because she didn't have time to change."

Funeral services were held at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Missouri City, with graveside services at Brookside Memorial Park in Northwest Harris County. Rev. Jay F. Walsh probably put it best when he said, "Officer Kathleen Schaefer put her life on the line in the battle against that diabolic narcotics traffic. She paid the supreme price. She gave her life that you and I may live in a better community."

Officer Schaefer, 35, left behind her husband, Lt. Lyndon Schaefer, HPD supervisor; her daughter, Theresa, 11; and her son, Lyndon, 10.

Source – Houston Police Department Museum Files