Albert "Creel" Gaston, Sheriff

Woodward County Sheriff's Office

Shortly after 2:30 P.M. on January 6, 1982, Sheriff Gaston was investigating a report of someone stealing gasoline from parked cars in rural Woodward County. Near the intersection of Highways 270 and 34, he saw a car parked at the side of the road that fit the description of the suspect vehicle in the thefts. As the Sheriff approached the car, the driver, David M. Behrens, 23, shot him once in the chest with a .38 pistol. The bullet penetrated one lung and lodged against his spine, paralyzing the Sheriff from the waist down. After many months in the hospital the Sheriff recovered enough to complete the last two years of his term confined to a wheelchair. David Behrens was convicted of shooting the Sheriff and sentenced to 144 years in prison. The Sheriff suffered long term complications from his wound. He died on February 12, 1986, from pneumonia following surgery earlier in January for an infection. Sheriff Gaston was 70 years old at the time of his death and was survived by his wife, Max.