The Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers . . .
 
Photograph: Detective Frank E. Hermanson

Patch image: Kansas City Police Department, Missouri






Detective Frank E. Hermanson
Kansas City Police Department
Missouri

End of Watch: Saturday, June 17, 1933

Biographical Info
Age: 46
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Saturday, June 17, 1933
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Not available

Detective Hermanson was one of four law enforcement officers killed in an incident referred to as the Kansas City Massacre.

Detective Hermanson was survived by his wife.

The Kansas City Massacre occurred when the Pretty Boy Floyd gang attempted to free gang member Frank Nash. Nash was being transported from Oklahoma to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Unknown to officer, an informant had relayed all the information regarding the arrival of Nash and his law enforcement escorts to various gangsters throughout the area. As the group of officers and agents entered their cars at Union Station, in Kansas City, the gang opened fire. In the ensuing gun battle Detective Frank Hermanson and Detective William Grooms, of the Kansas City Police Department, Chief of Police Otto Read, of the McAlester Police Department, Oklahoma, and Special Agent Raymond Caffrey, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were shot and killed. Frank Nash, the suspect the gang was trying to free, was also shot and killed.

Pretty Boy Floyd was shot and killed the following year during a shootout with officers. A second gang member was arrested and executed for the murders, and the third gang member was found dead from an unrelated murder.

A little over a year later an officer who was present at the scene became emotionally unstable because of the incident and went on a shooting rampage, killing Patrolman Grant Schroder of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.

Related Line of Duty Deaths
Patch image: Kansas City Police Department, MissouriDetective William J. Grooms
Kansas City Police Department, MO
EOW: Saturday, June 17, 1933
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Patch image: Kansas City Police Department, MissouriChief of Police Otto H. Reed
McAlester Police Department, OK
EOW: Saturday, June 17, 1933
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Patch image: Kansas City Police Department, MissouriSpecial Agent Raymond J. Caffrey
United States Department of Justice - F..., US
EOW: Saturday, June 17, 1933
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Patch image: Kansas City Police Department, MissouriPatrolman Grant Victor Schroder
Kansas City Police Department, MO
EOW: Monday, November 26, 1934
Cause of Death: Gunfire

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