Chicago Police Department, Illinois
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 4, 1921
Age: 25
Tour of Duty: 3 years
Badge Number: 4275
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: January 3, 1921
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Sentenced to life at Joliet Penitentiary
Patrolman John J. Mullen, of the 29th Precinct, was fatally shot at 12:57 a.m. on January 3rd, dying at 3:50 a.m., the next day at the Lincoln Gardens, Wells Street and Lincoln Avenue, by a man he tried to arrest.
Officer Mullen responded to a disturbance of an intoxicated man in a cafe. Officer Mullen placed one offender under arrest for threatening a patron with a gun. The second offender approached Officer Mullen from behind and shot him.
All assailants were indicted by the Grand Jury. On March 26, 1921, two were acquitted by the judge. On March 26, 1921, the shooter was sentenced to life imprisonment at Joliet Penitentiary.
The shooters conviction was based on evidence provided by another man. The killer's friends vowed they would get him. On March 19, 1923, his mutilated body, with hands cut off, was found buried in the snow near Geneva.
Patrolman Mullen, a WWI Army veteran, was survived by a wife and child and is buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery.