Kansas City Police Department, Kansas
End of Watch: Monday, August 2, 1943
Age: 39
Tour of Duty: 3 months
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: August 2, 1943
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Convicted and Hung
Officer Edward Nugent was shot and killed after arresting an attempted rape suspect.
Officer Nugent was on his way home when he was stopped by a woman at Seventh Street and Washington Boulevard who reported that while she was waiting for a bus, a suspect ordered her into an alley. A car passed by, and the suspect told her he would shoot her if she cried out. She went as far as the entrance to the alley but then ran into the middle of the street as Officer Nugent happened by. After determining why she had run out into the street, he drove the young woman around looking for the suspect.
They drove about the vicinity for several minutes before she pointed out a man walking on Seventh Street just south of Washington. She said the officer got out and searched the man. He then flagged the motor car of a passerby and asked for some help in taking the suspect to headquarters, and a passenger in the car volunteered.
Officer Nugent searched the man again before placing him in the rear seat on the driver's side of the car. The volunteer got in beside him. The officer took the wheel, and the woman sat beside him. The man sat with his hands on the back of the front seat, and then he produced a revolver with a 2-inch barrel and fired once from within a foot of the officer's head.
The volunteer reached over and seized both the man's hands, pulled them down between his legs, and wrested away the weapon. By that time, the car had gone over the curbing into a parking lot and was stopped within a few feet of the display window of Meyer's Creamery store at 1120 North Seventh. The suspect escaped through a car window, leaving his nickel-plated revolver and a felt hat on the floor. Police could find no fingerprints on the weapon, which could be used as identification.
Forty minutes after the shooting, a man was picked up at Seventh Street and Everett Avenue, two blocks from the scene of the shooting, by three detectives and the sheriff. Paraffin tests made of his hands reportedly showed gunpowder burns.
He was convicted of Officer Nugent's murder and hung on April 15th, 1944.
Officer Nugent had served with the Kansas City Police Department for three months, assigned to the detective bureau, and previously served as a deputy sheriff. He was survived by his wife, four sons, daughter, mother, and brother.
He is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas.