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 WWI veteran, commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve at war's end. Upon his return home, he was appointed a captain in the Illinois National Guard where 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.