Category: Uncategorized

Andrew Katnik, an officer with the Braddock Borough Police Department, was shot on August 17, 1920, outside a bar in Swissvale. Katnik and other officers had gone to the bar to arrest Stanley Kryzwicki, who had threatened his wife and destroyed property at his home. Kryzwicki shot and killed himself at the scene.

Katnik died of causes related to his wounds more than seven years later, on December 29, 1927.

George Hoffman, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot on October 22, 1919, as he attempted to arrest a robbery suspect in the Hill District. He died of his wounds on October 30, 1919.

The suspect was never identified or apprehended.

Louis Henry Hufnagel, an officer with the Crafton Borough Police Department, was shot and killed when responding to a burglary on the night of September 8, 1919. “Three foreigners” – Antonio Perobuzno, Joseph Pin, and Amendio Caruso – were arrested at the scene, though no evidence connected them to the crime.

All three men were subsequently released due to a lack of evidence. No other arrests were made.

 

Robert McLean Hamilton, an officer with the Turtle Creek Borough Police Department, was shot and killed on April 4, 1919, while pursuing two men who had just robbed a restaurant.

Hamilton, a US Army veteran of World War I who had just been discharged from service, was serving his first day on the police force.

Andrew Graylock and Charles Campbell were arrested on May 4, 1919. Graylock was convicted of second-degree murder on May 14, 1920.

John L. Wilson, an officer with the Homestead Borough Police Department, was shot on September 6, 1918, while attempting to arrest John Kyle for trespassing in a home. Wilson had been called to the scene by a resident of the home. During the altercation, Wilson shot and killed Kyle.

Wilson died on September 8, 1918.

Thomas Patrick Farrell, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot and killed on March 2, 1918, while attempting to make an arrest on the North Side. Farrell was struck by bullets from two different guns. There were no witnesses to the killing.

Numerous Italian immigrants were arrested in connection with the case. Three men allegedly tied to the Black Hand – Dominick Acqua, Alphonse Polifrone, and Francisco Zavaglio – were charged with murder in May 1918. The suspects were known to frequent the area of the shooting.

Polifrone was acquitted at trial in February 1919 due to an absence of evidence. No other trials were held.

Harrison Township Chief of Police Harry Meyers and Officer William Lucas were shot by James Gibson outside Gibson’s home on the evening of December 21, 1917. Officer Lucas died December 23. Meyers died on January 6, 1918.

The officers had been called to Gibson’s home to arrest him by Gibson’s father, who told police of Gibson’s drunken and abusive behavior and his refusal to work. Gibson lied in wait for the police to arrive.

On June 27, 1918, Gibson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16-17 years in prison in the Meyers case. His defense was that he was intoxicated. On September 18, 1918, he pleaded guilty to killing Lucas. The judge deliberated until May, 14, 1919, before determining that Gibson had committed first degree murder; he was sentenced to death.

Claiming insanity, James Gibson petitioned the Pardon Board for commutation. His death sentence was commuted to life on March 18, 1920.

Michael J. Lebedda, an officer with the Munhall Borough Police Department, was shot and killed on November 17, 1917, while attempting to arrest Jack Thompson and two other men after they had robbed a man in Duquesne. The three assailants fled.

Thompson was arrested in North Carolina in May 1919. At trial, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in December 1919.

Before he could be executed, Thompson died of tuberculosis in the Allegheny County Jail on April 7, 1920.

Charles LeRoy Edinger, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was killed when responding to a liquor store burglary on June 6, 1917. The assailant, Robert Henry Brown, shot and killed William J. Elford, the son of the store owner. When police arrived and engaged Brown, Edinger was caught in the crossfire and killed.

Brown was sentenced to death for killing Elford and was executed on January 5, 1920. He was convicted of second-degree murder for killing Edinger due to questions about whose weapon fired the fatal shot.

Edgar Matthew Hyland, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in an altercation with three men he was attempting to arrest on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District in January 1916. He died during surgery to remove his eye on May 26, 1917.

Matthew Brickley was charged with manslaughter in September 1917, after having been arrested during a robbery on August 31, 1917.

Brickley was acquitted at trial.