Oneal Moore
Birth date:
April 23, 1931
Death date:
June 2, 1965
Age at Death:
34
About
Oneal Moore was born in Varnado, Louisiana in 1931. He was the first African-American deputy sheriff for the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office. But, later he went on to enroll on the Army and served for for more than 1 year. He was a leader in his church, his local fraternal lodge, and the PTA. He was also married and had 4 daughters, and his family was worried for him constantly, as he was in danger being one of the only black men where he worked and lived. Oneal Moore was an involved, dedicated, brave man who should be honored.
Moore was driving home from work one evening with his partner Creed Rogers, another African-American deputy sheriff. Their car was shot by a pickup truck and they were both badly injured. Moore was shot in the head and lost control of the vehicle, running into a tree, and dying instantly. Rogers was wounded in the shoulder and in the eye but was okay for the time. Rogers was able to depict the car as a black pickup with a Confederate flag on the back of it. However, no one was formally convicted of the shooting.
Was justice served?
As of June 2, 1965 justice was not served, since no one was ever convicted of the shooting. All the police knew about the shooting was it was from a black pickup, but they never identified who exactly was in the pickup. Both possible suspects were arrested, both being white supremacists, but were not filed against due to lack of evidence. In years following, the case was revisited but was not solved, and the prime suspect of the case died in 2003. In conclusion, the murder of Oneal Moore was never solved or brought to a peaceful ending.