Constable Leonard N. Walker

Leonard N. Walker

Constable Leonard Walker was shot and killed near Woodville while attempting to arrest an escaped convict from Louisiana while serving a 20-year sentence.

The man had received the sentence on December 14th, 1915, and escaped on September 3rd, 1916. The Tyler County sheriff received a tip that the man had been living in near Woodville using an alias.

The sheriff, one of his deputies, a game warden, and Constable Walker went to the home to arrest the man. The sheriff and game warden stationed themselves at the front gate while the Constable Walker and the sheriff's deputy, who was his brother, went to the back of the house. When the sheriff called for the subject to surrender the man ran out the back door past the two Walker brothers. As they ordered him to surrender the man fired one round at the Constable Walker with a double-barreled shotgun. He was struck in the side and died instantly. The man emptied the shotgun and began firing a revolver when he wounded Deputy Sheriff A.C. Walker in the right arm.

The officers returned fire, but no one hit the man as he escaped into the woods. He was captured near Spurger later that afternoon after a brief gun battle with a posse.

On December 4th, 1929, the man was convicted of murdering Constable Walker and sentenced to five years in prison. The charge of assault to murder for shooting Deputy Sheriff A.C. Walker was dismissed as "insufficient evidence to convict."

Constable Walker was survived by his wife and three children. He was buried in the Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Tyler County. Constable Walker was appointed constable of Precinct 5 sometime in 1926. He was on the ballot on November 6th, 1928, and was elected six weeks after his death. The Precinct 5 constable's office has since been consolidated into another precinct.

Constable Walker was a first cousin three times removed of Patrol Officer David Marshall who died in the line of duty on May 1st, 2021, while serving with the Texas Christian University Police Department.