Joplin Police Department, Missouri
End of Watch: Saturday, June 3, 1916
Age: 32
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: June 3, 1916
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Shot and killed in 1917
Reserve Officer Louis Wells was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man for carrying a concealed weapon.
Officer Wells had stopped the man on North Main Street, a half-mile north of the bridge over the Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks.
The man was apprehended, convicted of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. On November 22nd, 1916, he escaped from the penitentiary. On May 27th, 1917, he was shot and killed in a gunfight with police in Greenville, Mississippi.