Police Officer James H. Nerison

James H. Nerison

Police Officer James Nerison was shot and killed while he and three other officers attempted to arrest two brothers who were robbing the Alhambra Theater, at the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and Main Street, and attempting to blow the safe. One of the other officers was wounded.

The brothers escaped through a side door as they held the officers off with blasts from their sawed-off shotguns. The men had just robbed two other theaters and had stolen a total of $2,500. They also shot and wounded a Los Angeles detective during one of the other robberies.

Both brothers were captured eleven days later when police found them hiding in a house in Holtville.

Officer Nersison was a U.S. Army veteran of WWI and had served with the Alhambra Police Department for four years. He was survived by his wife and three children.