Detective Sergeant John T. Grant

John T. Grant

Detective Sergeant Grant was shot and killed at 2300 hours in the 700 block of Parade Street while he and another detective attempted to arrest a man wanted for stabbing another man with a pitchfork. Both had robbed a liquor store the night before.

The suspect knew that the officers were coming for him and waited at his kitchen table with a Springfield rifle. When Detective Sergeant Grant knocked on the door the suspect shot through it, killing Detective Sergeant Grant instantly. The suspect ran out the back door as the other detective ran to the front to check on Detective Sergeant Grant after hearing the gunshot. The next day 20 officers surrounded a building where the suspect had barricaded himself in the attic. A shot fired at the officers resulted in a 10 minute fusilade of bullets that riddled the building as more than 2000 people watched. After three bullets passed through the suspects neck he shot himself in the head. If not for an ambulance at the scene and the hospital two blocks away he would have died from a loss of blood. He was released from the hospital two weeks later and jailed for murder.

The suspect, 23, was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 20 years. He was paroled in 1923. A few days later on November 22, 1923. Erie Police officers found themselves in the same situation they were in 10 years earlier. The suspect had robbed a citizen of his money and watch and then barricaded himself in a house when officers tried to arrest him. This time he was talked into surrendering.

Detective Sergeant Grant served with the Erie Police Department for 11 years. On April 1, 2003 - 81 years after his murder - Detective Sergeant Grant was posthumously awarded the department's Medal of Honor.