Police Officer Fred A. Peitsch

Fred A. Peitsch

Officers Fred Peitsch and John Schultz were shot and killed while questioning a possible bootlegging suspect.

The man shot them several times and then as they laid on the ground, they were shot once more in the head. The suspect then fled in their patrol car.

Three suspects were apprehended two days later in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and charged with the officer's murders and several robberies. Each suspect was sentenced to 240 years for the robberies but the murder charges were dismissed due to insufficient evidence.

In September of 1927 a gangster who was arrested for the murder of a fellow gangster in St. Paul, stated that the dead man had killed several people including two officers. An investigation revealed that the man had murdered Officers Peitsch and Schultz as well as eight others.

Officer Peitsch had been employed with the St. Paul Police Department for nine years and was survived by his wife and two daughters.