Sergeant Ira A. Warren

Ira A. Warren

Sergeant Warren was shot when he and a Portland City detective went to a hotel in downtown Portland searching for an ex-con they wanted to question regarding a burglary.

When they found the suspect and attempted to take him into custody two of his friends burst into the room. All three were taken into custody and Sergeant Warren was holding them while the Portland Detective left to phone for a paddy wagon. One of the three had a hidden gun and shot Sergeant Warren in the neck. Sergeant Warren died five months later of a meningitis infection directly linked to the gunshot wound.

The suspect, 30, was convicted of several armed robberies before Sergeant Warren died. He was sentenced to life for the robberies and paroled in 1955. He was never charged with Sergeant Warren's murder. On May 17, 1963, he beat and stabbed to death his 8-year-old step-daughter in Cupertino, California, and was sentenced to death. The California Supreme Court ordered a new trial which ended with a hung jury. A third ordered trial was voided after it's conclusion due to an incorrect decision the judge made. On March 13, 1970, a fourth trial was ordered. His death sentence was upheld. In 1972 his death sentence was commuted to life, with the possibility of parole, when the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional. He died in 1984.

Sergeant Warren had been with the agency for seven years. He was a World War Veteran.