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| Detective Sylvester Cormack
Tulsa Police Department
Oklahoma
End of Watch: Thursday, September 12, 1946 Biographical Info
Age: Not available
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Thursday, September 12, 1946
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: One shot and killed Detective Cormack and Ben Johnston were shot and killed while attempting to arrest two suspects wanted for questioning in the murder of Officer Jerry St. Clair ten days earlier. They were also wanted for the murder of a night watchman in Seneca, Missouri, a day earlier and a hit & run accident in which a man was killed a week earlier in Vincennes, Indiana.
The detectives stopped the two suspects on Frisco Avenue but were immediately fired upon. Detective Cormack succumbed to his wounds at the scene and Detective Johnston succumbed to his wounds three months later. One of the suspects was apprehended at the scene and the second was later apprehended in Idaho.
On Febuary 3, 1947, both suspects escaped from the Tulsa County Jail. One suspect was captured a short time later. Two hours later the other suspect was shot and killed in a gun battle with three state troopers 40 miles east of Tulsa.
The suspect who murdered Officer St. Clair was apprehended in California. He was convicted of first degree murder and executed in the electric chair on November 17, 1949. Related Line of Duty Deaths | |
