Homicide: Life on the Street Season 1 Episode 3

Son of a Gun

"Son of a Gun" is the third episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 10, 1993. The teleplay was written by James Yoshimura based on a story by executive director Tom Fontana, and the episode was directed by Nick Gomez. In the episode, recurring character Officer Thormann is shot while on duty, and his close friend Crosetti takes the investigation personally. "Son of a Gun" was originally supposed to be the fourth episode of the first season, but was broadcast third when the episode "Night of the Dead Living" was moved to the end of the season. The shooting of a police officer, as well as other aspects of the script, were directly inspired by real-life events chronicled in David Simon's non-fiction book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. The episode included guest appearances by actors Luis Guzmán, Paul Schulze and Edie Falco, who played Thormann's wife. It also marked the first of five appearances by Washington Bullets team sports announcer Mel Proctor, and the first appearance by actor Walt MacPherson, who would later be cast as recurring character Detective Roger Gaffney.