Chicago Police Department, Illinois
End of Watch: Saturday, March 12, 1927
Age: 30
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: 3751
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: March 12, 1927
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Executed
Patrolman Leo Grant was shot and killed while attempting to arrest three convicted murderers who had escaped from the Will County Jail in Joliet.
The three convicts forced a cab driver to drive them to Chicago where they were intercepted at the intersection of 98th Street and Ewing Avenue and forced to the curb by Patrolman Grant and two other officers. In a resulting gunfight, Patrolman Grant was killed and another officer and the cab driver were seriously wounded. One of the suspects was mortally wounded, one was captured, and the other suspect escaped.
The three suspects along with three other murderers were in the Will County Jail awaiting their execution for having killed Deputy Warden Peter N. Klein of the Illinois Department of Corrections on May 5th, 1926. The suspect who was captured after Patrolman Grant was killed was hanged for murdering Warden Klein on July 15th, 1927.
Patrolman Grant was survived by his wife and son.