IN THE LINE OF DUTY
Honoring our Fallen
Special Agents
04/09/07
It
was a tragic loss: the fatal shooting of Special
Agent Barry Lee Bush last Thursday in New
Jersey, apparently through an accidental shooting
by another agent during the pursuit of three
extremely dangerous bank robbers.
The entire FBI family mourns the loss of
Agent Bush, who served our organization and
the nation honorably for nearly two decades.
Since this tragic event, we have been asked
about other FBI agents who have lost their
lives in the line of duty. Here are the facts:
- Since our founding in 1908, 49 special
agents have been killed in the line of duty.
This total does not include Agents Bush
and Gregory
J. Rahoi,
whose cases are still under official review.
- Of the 49 losses, 35 agents have died
as the direct
result of “adversarial
action”—either
at the hand of an adversary or during the
use of adversarial force. Five agents in
this category have been killed during bank
robbery investigations.
- The first agent to be killed as the result
of hostile action was Edwin Shanahan on
October 11, 1925. Shanahan was killed by
a wanted automobile thief named Martin Durkin,
who opened fire as the agent approached
him in a Chicago parking garage. The Bureau
and other law enforcement pursued Durkin
across the west for weeks until he was apprehended.
- The last agent to lose his life as the
result of adversarial action was Leonard
W. Hatton,
who was killed in the falling towers of
the World Trade Center as he attempted to
rescue victims of the 9/11 attacks. He is
the only FBI agent to die at the hands of
terrorists.
- Another 15 special agents have died
on duty, but not as the direct result of
confrontation with a criminal.
Robert
R. Hardesty,
who died during a SWAT training exercise
in June 2005, is the last agent to be added
to this list.
Many stories. Bureau agents
have lost their lives in violent gun fights
with notorious criminals like Baby
Face Nelson, who
eventually died in a shootout with our agents.
Still others have died in ambushes like the
Kansas City Massacre in 1933…or in
sudden attacks on FBI offices like the one
that killed Jared Porter and Charles Elmore
in El Centro, California, in 1986. Two
agents died 21 years ago this week in Miami during
a shootout with two robbery suspects, who
also wounded five other agents. Agents have
also been killed serving arrest warrants,
chasing fugitives, and working undercover
cases.
Together,
these sobering facts and stories recall the
sacrifice that each agent makes when putting
on a badge and accepting responsibility for
protecting the nation. As always, we honor
all of our special agents who have made the
ultimate sacrifice for our country. They will
never be forgotten.
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