A History of Prosecutor Deaths in the US The killings of two Texas prosecutors have raised fresh questions about the safety of those who confront evil for a living. In fact, the murders of prosecutors have been relatively rare, with motives varying widely. Over the last century, 14 prosecutors have been killed, according to news reports and statistics kept by the National District Attorneys Association. At least eight of them were targeted in the line of duty. At least several were slain in incidents unrelated to their jobs, apparently random acts of violence. Details of 13 of the deaths have been compiled by The Prosecutors Memorial at the University of South Carolina, which counts about 40,000 state and local prosecutors nationwide. The Associated Press reviewed a 14th case, the 2008 killing of a prosecutor in Colorado, which the district attorneys group says it is considering for inclusion. Here is a look at the slain prosecutors, whom the memorial calls "Ministers of Justice, messengers of truth, peaceful warriors for good who gave all": District Attorney Mike McLelland of Kaufman County, Texas, and his wife were found shot to death Saturday inside their home. Authorities continued to search Monday for a suspect and motive. FILE - This undated file photo taken from the Kaufman County, Texas, website shows Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. (AP Photo/Kaufman County, File) Close Two months earlier, on Jan. 31, Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down as he was walking to the courthouse. McLelland, Hasse's boss, had raised the possibility a white supremacist gang killed his colleague. McLelland said his office has prosecuted several cases against racist gangs, which are active in the state. In Denver, Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean May was gunned down in his backyard in August 2008. The killing remains unsolved. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Messer was shot to death during a robbery as he was walking to a training seminar in Columbia, S.C., in August 2001. Four teenagers were convicted in his death and received prison sentences ranging from 35 to 47 years. Eddie Vaughn burst into Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorney R. Fred Capps' home in June 2000, hours before Capps was set to try him on sexual abuse charges. Capps grabbed his .357 Magnum revolver and a shootout ensued. Capps and Vaughn killed each other in the exchange. Gil Epstein, an assistant district attorney in Fort Bend County, Texas, had just left Houston's Jewish Community Center after playing basketball in September 1996 when a robber confronted him. According to a witness, the robber shot Epstein after he saw Epstein's prosecutor's badge in his wallet. Epstein's killer, Marcus Cotton, was convicted of murder in 1997. A hooded gunman killed Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Paul R. McLaughlin as McLaughlin was walking to his car in September 1995. McLaughlin, who was working with Suffolk County's first anti-gang violence unit, was killed the night before he was scheduled to prosecute gang leader Jeffrey Bly for the third time. Bly was sentenced to life in prison. George Lott opened fire in a Tarrant County, Texas, courtroom in July 1992, killing Assistant District Attorney C. Chris Marshall as well as wounding two judges and another assistant district attorney. Lott killed another lawyer in a stairwell. He fled to a television station, where he said he wanted to draw attention to the wrongs inflicted upon him in his divorce and through a child-molesting charge his ex-wife filed against him. Lott was convicted of two counts of capital murder. He was executed in September 1994.