The Hillsborough Police Department on Wednesday, Aug. 5, honored Officer Eugene Albert Doran, the only officer in department history killed in the line of duty, on the 67th anniversary of his death.

The department said on its official X account that it paused to remember Doran's sacrifice, 67 years after he was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Bunker Hill Road near Skyline Boulevard.

Doran was 36 years old and a World War II Army Air Forces veteran when he died at approximately 4 a.m. on Aug. 5, 1959.

What happened that night

According to the 100 Club of San Mateo County, Doran was on patrol near Black Mountain and Skyline Boulevard when he radioed dispatch at 4:01 a.m. for a time check. Six minutes later, he requested a "hot car" check on a license plate. The San Bruno Police dispatcher monitoring the call reported the plate had been stolen in San Bruno the previous Friday.

Dispatch tried to relay the information back to Doran.

Investigators later believed he was already dead.

A Belmont officer, George Stephenson, found Doran about 40 minutes after the shooting, lying by his patrol car on Bunker Hill Road just off Skyline Boulevard. He had been shot six times with a .32 caliber revolver. His service weapon had been taken.

The suspect, an armed parolee, was later convicted of Doran's murder and executed on April 26, 1961, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

A family's double sacrifice

Doran was survived by his pregnant wife and two young children. His son, Patrick Doran, later gave his life serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War in 1967.

A bridge on Interstate 280 near the site of the shooting was originally named the Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge. It was later renamed to honor both father and son.

A department that remembers

In April 2025, Officer Reyna Ramirez represented the Hillsborough Police Department at the San Mateo County Fallen Police Officers Memorial Ceremony, honoring Doran alongside Lieutenant Chenier and Corporal Wang.

The department has marked the anniversary annually. In its August 2025 Facebook remembrance, the department wrote that Doran's memory remains central to the Hillsborough police community.

The I-280 bridge bearing the Doran family name stands near the stretch of road where Officer Doran made his last radio call.