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Police Officer

Billy Ray Watson Sr.

Columbus Police Department — Columbus, GA

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch December 28, 1976

Age 41

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Badge 238

The Vigil Panel 118 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 25

Incident

Police Officer Billy Watson was shot and killed when he walked into a robbery-in-progress at the Peachtree Mall at 3131 Manchester Expressway in Columbus. At 2:00 a.m., a patron at the Final Approach Lounge drew a gun and was robbing the waitresses and a customer when Officer Watson entered the establishment to ensure they were closing. The subject turned around and shot Officer Watson in the head and chest, killing him instantly. A man who had entered the bar with Officer Watson was struck three times. The subject took Officer Watson's gun and grabbed a waitress, using her as a shield as he fled the bar. While he exited the mall, he fired into another bar, Brer Rabbit's, hitting one of their bartenders with his barrage of gunfire. He forced the waitress into a car and drove into Alabama. The suspect was apprehended in Alabama three hours later. When officers stopped his car, his hostage was able to run from the vehicle. The suspect had begun his nine-hour crime spree earlier that night in Macon, Georgia, when he was involved in a fight with another man over $20. He shot and killed him and wounded another man before robbing a bar and then driving to Columbus, where he killed Officer Watson. He had planned to travel to Florida to kill his estranged wife. He was convicted of two counts of murder, two counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to death and executed on January 24, 2002. Officer Watson was a United States Navy veteran and had served with the Columbus Police Department for six years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife, three sons, a daughter, his father, and three sisters.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-GA-5EE3F0AE
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Navy. One record, 2 gates. Billy is one person.

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Tributes

I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Police Officer Watson gave the Columbus Police Department 9 years.
Thank you for your service to the Columbus community, and for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Columbus Police Department

Type Other

Location Columbus, Muscogee County, GA

Platform Identity cpd.muscogee.ga.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch December 28, 1976

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Age 41

Badge Number 238

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Handgun

Military Service

Billy Ray Watson Sr. served in the U.S. Navy (1951â1955) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Police Officer Billy Ray Watson Sr. is one of 1 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,759 officers honored here.

In GA, 548 of 904 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 60.6% of this state's fallen. That is 60.6 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Columbus Police Department, 19 of 26 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 73.1% of this agency's fallen.

Columbus Police Department

of 26 officers

73.1% Felonious

GA — Statewide

548

of 904 officers

60.6% Felonious

Nationwide

of 97,759 officers

0% Felonious