COUPEVILLE — A memorial to two Island County sheriff’s deputies who were killed in the line of duty was rededicated Thursday.
Deputy William Heffernan and Deputy John Saxerud were fatally shot by a drunken driving suspect Nov. 14, 1987. The deputies arrested the driver on south Whidbey Island and took him to Coupeville for a routine breath test .
Darrin Rand shot the men with a gun he had hidden down the front of his pants. Rand was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A granite memorial was dedicated to the deputies but removed from its location off Main Street last year during a renovation project at the Island County Annex Building.
The stone has since been refurbished and has been placed near the flagpole opposite the Law and Justice Center.
During Thursday’s ceremony, Sheriff Mike Hawley retired the radio dispatch call signs used by the deputies.
Heffernan, 46, served in the U.S. Navy for nearly two decades and had been a deputy in Island County for nine years.
Saxerud, 31, served as deputy sheriff in Larimer County, Colo., for seven years. He joined the Island County department just two months before he was shot.
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