Michigan State Police, Michigan
End of Watch Monday, October 13, 1930
Add to My HeroesJohn S. Burke
Trooper Burke was shot and killed after stopping two bank robbers in St. Joseph County. He had been notified of the robbery and stopped the men on a county road. While he searched one of the suspects the second suspect shot him in the back three times. The suspects then drove over his body before fleeing.
Both suspects, 28 and 30, were apprehended four hours later just across the state line in Indiana. Six hours later both were convicted of Trooper Burke's murder. Four days later both were in the state penitentiary serving a life sentence. The next day it was discovered that the one who fired the fatal shot had gone AWOL from the army in 1921. The other inmate had escaped from the Ohio Penitentiary in 1926 a few days after he was sentenced to 2 to 15 years for breaking and entering. In 1933 he was adjudged insane and committed in the state mental hospital for the criminally insane at Ionia. In 1948 the other suspect was awarded a new trial, convicted of second degree murder, and sentenced to 7 to 15 years.
Bio
- Age 23
- Tour Not available
- Badge Not available
Incident Details
- Cause Gunfire
- Weapon Gun; Unknown type
- Offender Sentenced to life
Most Recent Reflection
View all 7 ReflectionsRest in peace Trooper Burke. Young and heroic!
Rabbi Lewis S. Davis
March 23, 2019
Recent LODD Deaths

Police Officer Peter E. C. Jerving
Milwaukee Police Department, WI
EOW: February 7, 2023
Police Officer Sean Sluganski
McKeesport Police Department, PA
EOW: February 6, 2023

Criminal Investigator Steven A. Carnes
Tom Green County District Attorney's Office, TX
EOW: November 13, 2022

Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco, Jr.
Selma Police Department, CA
EOW: January 31, 2023

Master Patrol Officer Clarence L. "CJ" Williams
Cairo Police Department, GA
EOW: January 28, 2023

Supervisory Officer Jacqueline Montanaro
United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations, US
EOW: January 14, 2023

Police Officer Carl Douglas Kimball
St. Francisville Police Department, LA
EOW: January 12, 2023

Deputy Sheriff Darnell Calhoun
Riverside County Sheriff's Department, CA
EOW: January 13, 2023

Court Services Officer Curtis Matthew Worland
Alaska State Troopers, AK
EOW: December 13, 2022