Since the Edmonton Police Department employed its first constable in 1892, 10 officers have been killed on the job, according to the historical section of the police service’s website.
As of Thursday’s double shooting, four Edmonton officers on duty had been the victims of homicides, all by gunshot. Two officers were killed in traffic accidents, one was electrocuted and one suffered a head injury in an accident.
March 15, 2023
constant Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30, was shot dead in the early hours of the morning in the Inglewood neighborhood while responding to a family dispute at an apartment complex. The suspect is a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have died from self-inflicted injuries.
June 18, 2015
constant Daniel Woodall was fatally shot and Sgt. Jason Harley was shot and injured while attempting to force entry into the home of a suspect, Norman Raddatz. Woodall, 35, was a hate crime investigator and Raddatz was wanted for criminal harassment. Raddatz’s house later caught fire and his remains were found inside. A school in southwest Edmonton is named in Woodall’s honor.
June 25, 1990
constant Ezio Faraone, 33, died instantly when a suspect shot him after a bank robbery. Faraone had spotted a vehicle potentially connected to the robbery and saw only one suspect in the vehicle, which he followed into a cul-de-sac near 124th Street and 116th Avenue — also in the Inglewood neighborhood. Faraone exited the vehicle, gun drawn, to approach the car. Jerry Crews, who was hidden in the back seat of the vehicle, got out and shot the officer in the head and abdomen. A park adjacent to Alberta’s Parliament Grounds overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley is named in his honor and bears a statue of the officer helping a child.
July 2, 1959
Scottish immigrant Sgt Malcolm Groat Finlayson Jack was a passenger in a police car en route to a fire alarm at the Capital City Box Company. A fire truck also en route to the call struck the vehicle at 93rd Street and 104th Avenue, killing Jack.
Nov. 24, 1956
constant David Anthony Romano drove over the Mill Creek Bridge on his way to a complaint about a domestic dispute. A truck driving on the wrong side of the bridge collided with the vehicle, killing Romano instantly.
May 8, 1955
constant George Donnelly and another officer responded to a call about two power lines being shut down at Saskatchewan Drive and 102nd Street during a storm. Donnelly was attempting to secure a 4,160 volt wire that had snapped when he was electrocuted.
December 5, 1949
constant George Rowley Vaughan was trying to stop a stuck police vehicle at 106th Street and Princess Elizabeth Avenue when he fell, hit his head and died 27 hours later.
August 30, 1919
constant William Leslie Nixon, 29, was walking near 104th Avenue and 101st Street and approached a suspicious man near the Twin City Transfer Company. When Nixon questioned him, the man pulled a revolver from his jacket and shot Nixon in the side. The officer fired three emergency shots before collapsing. He later regained consciousness in the hospital and was able to describe the suspect before he died.
A man with a similar description was suspected of attempted murder two days later. It led to Canada’s first aerial police chase when the police chief approached famed pilot Wilfred “Wop” May to help track the suspect who had boarded a train bound for the Rockies.
October 17, 1918
constant Frank Beevers was Edmonton’s first officer, killed on duty when he was shot in the chest while investigating a robbery at the Northern Hotel at 97th Street and 102nd Avenue. Joseph Arthur Cameron hid in a hotel room after shooting a shopkeeper and stealing $665 cash and a diamond ring. Cameron was sentenced to be hanged.
Beevers was buried in Edmonton Cemetery but without a permanent grave marker. In 2018, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death, police held a ceremony at the cemetery to install a permanent headstone.
Sources: Edmonton Police Service, Edmonton Police Association, Edmonton Journal Archives, Edmonton Sun and CBC.
