Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Birmingham Police Department’s deadliest day, the day that three officers were shot to death with an SKS while making a routine drug arrest at an Ensley house.

Carlos “Curly” Owen, 58; Harley Alfred Chisholm III, 40; and Charles Robert “Rob” Bennett, 33, were killed June 17, 2004.

Officer Michael Collins was shot and wounded but survived.

Family, friends, and fellow officers gathered Monday at the West Precinct to remember the fallen officers. They unveiled a bench bearing the officers’ names that will sit in the precinct.

“I remember that day very well, unfortunately like no other,’’ said Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond. “It was the worst day in the history of the Birmingham Police Department.”

“Their sacrifice was not in vain. They’re heroes for all of us men and women who wear the badge,’’ Thurmond said. “We must continue to remember them. They fought to the end. They were true warriors.”

Nathaniel Woods and Kerry Spencer were convicted in the deadly shootings and sentenced to death.

Woods, 43, was executed in 2020.

Kerry Spencer fired the shots that killed Owen, Bennett, and Chisholm. An execution date for Spencer has not yet been set.

It was early afternoon that Thursday when Chisholm and Bennett went to the front door, while Collins and Owen went to the back door.

Authorities said Woods, who was still standing behind his screen door, began to curse again and told the officers to leave.

Owen told Woods that they had a warrant for his arrest and that he needed to come outside. Woods refused, even after the officers showed him the NCIC printout and his mugshot.

He told the officers, “If you come in here, we’ll f*** you up.”

Woods turned and ran deeper into the apartment.

Chisholm followed Woods from the front, while Collins and Owen entered via the rear door.

Woods quickly surrendered, asking the men not to spray him with mace.

Collins ran to the back door, planning to join Bennett at the front and assist him when the others brought Woods outside.

Instead, he heard shuffling behind him, then gunfire.

Though shot, Collins ran to his patrol car for cover, where he radioed a ‘double aught’ call for all possible assistance.

Collins saw Spencer, who was Woods’s roommate, standing in the doorway and shooting in his direction.

Bennett was found outside the front of the apartment with a still-smoking gunshot wound to his face. Owen and Chisholm were found in the apartment.

All had been shot multiple times and were pronounced dead on the scene.

A manhunt followed, which led to the arrests of Spencer and Woods.

Three separate funerals were held for each officer, as well as a citywide memorial service for all three.

Chisholm, known as “RoboCop,” was remembered as a decorated ex-Marine who was tough on criminals and devoted to public service.

He knew, his supervisors said, when to police from the heart and when to police by the book. He was, they said, a hard-charger with a heart as big as a mountain.

Bennett was likened to a knight – loyal, courageous, courteous and generous. At his funeral, he was described as a “giant of a man” and a “hero.” He left behind a wife and a 4-year-old daughter.

Owen, a highly-decorated 27-year veteran of the department and a former president of the Fraternal Order of Police, was well-known in the Ensley area he patrolled for years.

He was affectionately known for his once-permed hair and admired for his uncanny ability to catch bad guys. He was called a “soldier of the city” and “a rare breed.” He was a husband, father and grandfather who was set to soon retire.

Former Birmingham Chief Annetta Nunn was chief at the time of the killings. She led Monday’s ceremony in prayer and closed it out by singing Amazing Grace.

Bennet’s daughter Caroline, who was just 4 when her father was killed, is now 24. She attended college and graduate school, which was paid for by a fund set up in Birmingham 1985 for children of slain police officers.

“It is very crazy to think it’s already been 20 years,’’ Bennett said. “I’ve had to grow up through the grief.”

“He’s continued to have such an influence in raising me regardless of the fact that he was not physically present,’’ she said.

Chisholm’s three sisters attended the ceremony, as did Owen’s son, Greg Owen, and daughter, Andrea Owen Elders.

.“I can’t believe time has gone by so fast,’’ Elders said. “But I still relive that day like it was yesterday.”

“He’s just missed so much of life when he should still be here,’’ she said. “They should all still be here.”.