Special Officer Robert Franklin Gunn

Robert Franklin Gunn

Special Officer Robert Gunn was shot and killed after arresting a man near Steadley's Crossing (modern-day location near the intersection of Laney Walker Boulevard and R.A. Dent Boulevard) in Augusta, Georgia, for hopping a ride on a freight train.

He was walking the man to a nearby store to hand him over to city police when the man suddenly produced a handgun and fatally shot him in the left side.

Officer Gunn was taken to University Hospital where he died the following morning.

The killer fled the scene but was eventually apprehended. He was executed by hanging on June 12th, 1931. The man was the last person executed by hanging in the state of Georgia.

Officer Gunn was survived by his wife, daughter, mother, and eight siblings.