At the breaking of day on August 12, 1967, Sheriff Buford Pusser, accompanied by his wife Pauline, was answering a call to a disturbance on New Hope Road when a car drove up beside them and began firing into the sheriff’s car. Pauline Pusser was struck by bullets from a military rifle. Taken by surprise, Sheriff Pusser sped away farther down New Hope Road in an attempt to outrun his assailants. A second ambush site lies two miles south of this location.