Detective Sergeant Leo Fox was shot and killed when he and several other officers went into an apartment building to make an arrest.
A gang of men had robbed a roadhouse in Oak Glen, Illinois, which is now part of Lansing, Illinois, three days earlier. The officers went to the address after receiving information that the suspects were located there.
As Detective Sergeant Fox and officers from Hammond and Cook County, Illinois, entered the suspects' apartment, gunfire erupted.
Detective Sergeant Fox was shot and killed by the gang's 24-year-old leader. He was transported to Saint Margaret Hospital where he died.
In the shootout, the gang's leader was also killed and a Hammond sergeant, who later became chief, was wounded as was an officer with the Cook County Highway Police.
Five gang members, two of whom were seriously wounded, were arrested and charged. A 22-year-old suspect, who was shot and paralyzed from the waist down, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to two to 21 years in prison where he died in 1931.
The remaining four suspects, two 20-year-olds and two 22-year-olds, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Hours after his funeral in Frankfort, Patrolman Amos Hamilton who had escorted the Hammond police honor guard was himself killed in the line of duty.
Detective Sergeant Fox had previously served as a prohibition agent with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. He was survived by his 8-year-old daughter and father, who served as the justice of the peace in Frankfort.
Military Service
United States Navy World War I |