CADDO, OK -- It was nearly 30 years ago that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol suffered its deadliest day. Three troopers were killed in a gun battle with two escaped fugitives.

The outlaws were on the run for more than one month...killing for the thrill of it

Emi FitzGerald was in Caddo today where victims were remembered in a memorial service. The OHP honor guard gave a 21 gun salute and played taps to honor three fallen state troopers. Hundreds attended in their memory.

The tragedy ended here three decades ago when two escaped convicts were finally gunned down after a 34-day killing spree. Three troopers died in the gun battle. Law enforcement say it is the scariest possible situation to be in, and very important to remember.

”For the people that lived here at the time it ranks right up there with the events that happened to us nationally,” said Captain Ronnie Hampton.

Sgt. Kevin Nave was playing outside in that Caddo neighborhood when he saw the OHP plane fly overhead. He was 10 years old at the time, and ran inside after state troopers told them to run.

"I was freaking out pretty, much. scared and trying to get to the house as fast as I could," he says.

Those events that day were one of the main reasons he decided to work in law enforcement. Nave is a sergeant in the Bryan County Sheriff's Office.

The events are still so vivid even thirty years later.