Special Agent Omer Earl Davenport

Omer Earl Davenport

Special Agent Omer Davenport was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend two men who were hopping onto a passenger train in the Wabash rail yards in Decatur, Illinois. The two suspects fled after shooting him. He was taken to the Wabash Employees Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. The suspects were never identified or apprehended.

Special Agent Davenport had served with the Wabash Railway Police Department for six years and as chief of police of the Decatur Police Department for four years, while simultaneously serving as a deputy sheriff with the Macon County Sheriff's Department.

He was also a World War I veteran, commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve at war's end. Upon his return home, he accepted rank in the Illinois National Guard, where as a captain he commanded an infantry company at the Herron Massacre and as a major commanded a battalion during the Sangamon County Mine War, both extended martial law actions.

Special Agent Davenport was survived by his wife, five young children and his mother.