San Francisco Police Department, California
End of Watch: Thursday, August 3, 1922
Age: 66
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: August 3, 1922
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Committed suicide
Detective Sergeant Bailey was shot and killed as he and other officers whet to a suspect’s home to arrest him for murder. The suspect’s sister-in-law had called police to turn him in for six murders he told her about including the murder of Officer James Horton of the San Francisco Police Department on September 19, 1920. A search for the subject was already underway after information was received while during a resent jail booking he had bragged to inmates that he had gotten away with six murders including that of Officer Horton. When they arrived the suspect shot and killed Sergeant Bailey and wounded another officer. The suspect then shot and killed his sister-in-law and then himself.
The suspect, Walter Castor, 28, shot and killed a man in 1913, convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to six years, and released in 1918. His mother said he was kicked in the head by a horse when he was 7-years-old and was never right since. His father was Officer Charles F. Castor of the San francisco Police Department, shot and killed in the line of duty on November 26, 1911.