Roll of Honor
Byron Don Shields
Incident
Location: Arizona Incident Date: Not available
Officer Byron Shields died from complications as the result of contracting COVID-19 during a presumed exposure while on duty.
Officer Shields was a U.S. Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm and had served with the United States Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations for 18 years.
COVID-19 and Law Enforcement
Officer Byron Don Shields died on January 20, 2021 of COVID-19 contracted in the line of duty. He was 54.
He is one of 884 officers honored here, and one of 29 at United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations.
Beginning in early 2020, law enforcement officers across the country contracted COVID-19 in the course of their duties. While much of the nation sheltered at home, they kept answering calls, making arrests, transporting prisoners, and working face to face with the public. There was no distance to be had from the job.
Corrections officers were hit hardest. Confined facilities and large populations meant constant, close, unavoidable exposure.
Survivors
He is survived by his mother, brother, and two sisters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-FED-405859C7- 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. Army. One record, 2 gates. Byron is one person.
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Tributes
The country locked its doors. You kept working.
Officer Shields gave the United States Department of Homeland Security 18 years.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Shields.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
Byron Don Shields served in the U.S. Army (1986â1992) before joining law enforcement.
Officer Byron Don Shields is one of 1 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,759 officers honored here.
In DC, 137 of 1,419 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 9.7% of this state's fallen. That is 9.7 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.
At United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations, 30 of 39 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 76.9% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Byron Don Shields's cause is highlighted.
How Byron Don Shields Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Byron Don Shields is highlighted in Jan.
Incident Location
Military Service
Byron Don Shields served in the U.S. Army (1986–1992) before joining law enforcement.
Visit Byron Don Shields’s page on salute.nw →
His full service record — units, decorations, where he served — is kept on salute.nw.
Others Who Wore This Badge
38 officers from United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
