Deputy Sheriff William G. Ezell, Sr.

William G. Ezell, Sr.

Deputy Sheriff William Ezell was accidentally shot and killed while attempting to hurriedly load a machine gun after several officers encountered members of the Dillinger Gang.

Two patrol officers had encountered four members of the gang parked in front of a drug store. The gang members held the two officers at gunpoint, using a machine gun, and ordered them back into their car before they fled. The two officers alerted the department and Deputy Ezell, along with a detective, were attempting to load their machine gun to join the chase when it discharged. Deputy Ezell was struck in the chest with a .45 caliber round. He succumbed to his wound three days later.

Deputy Ezell was survived by his wife, two sons, six brothers, and three sisters. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tennessee.

Led by John Dillinger, the Dillinger Gang was a notorious group of Midwest bank robbers. Associates of the gang were responsible for the fatal shootings of 13 law enforcement officers in 1933 and 1934.

Two infamous members of the gang, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, were shot and killed by law enforcement officers in separate incidents.

The other gang members were either murdered by criminals, shot and killed by law enforcement officers, executed for their crimes, or sentenced to time in prison.