On this day, Dec. 5, in 1980, Dr. Michael Halberstam, cardiologist and brother of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam, was fatally shot at his Northwest Washington home by an escaped convict and master burglar. Halberstam, 48, was shot twice in the chest and tried to drive himself to a hospital. He saw the gunman running in the street, swerved his car and struck and injured the suspect, Bernard C. Welch Jr.
Halberstam’s car then struck a tree.
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Afterward, police searched Welch’s expensive home in Great Falls, and found millions of dollars worth of stolen property. They also found two smelters where Welch had melted stolen silver into ingots. The Smith & Wesson revolver used to kill Halberstam had been stolen from the home of an FBI agent.
Welch was sentenced to 143 years in prison. He died in prison in 1997.
— Scott McCabe
