LEO Murder Weapon

[redlevel]

Last night I posted on my fb page a picture of a pretty nice early 70s vintage nickel plated Model 10-5 I bought

A few minutes later, one of my fb friends posted a picture of what appears to be an early post war M&P snubnose with the caption
"I've got one just like it except it's snub nose, it was my Grandfather William Wainwright's service revolver that he was killed with."

I remember the incident well. It was January 1973. I knew the officer who was killed, and had attended school with a couple of his sons. You can look up William Isaac Wainwright on the Officer Down memorial page. I had recently worked with the SO in our rural county. I happened to see the Sheriff that night and he told me what happened. Officer Wainwright was attempting to put a suspect in his car when a scuffle ensued. The suspect got control of Mr Wainwright's handgun and shot him several times. Another officer arrived and engaged the suspect. The suspect was killed, and the other officer wounded.

You can imagine the impact of an incident like this on our small rural county..

 

[M29since14]

I suppose some might think it odd the individual chose to retain his Grandfather's gun, when it was used in such a tragic incident. Your story and subsequent comment reminded me of a similar one from my youth. When I was just a lad, our little rural town in north-central Indiana suffered the murder of an Indiana state trooper in such a tragic incident that one could easily say, "That should never have happened!" - but it did.

The trooper, IIRC a sergeant/investigator, was trying to apprehend a suspect who had run into a house and up a flight of stairs to the second level. Other local PD officers on the scene cautioned him against ascending the staircase, which had a blind corner at the top. No one was certain the suspect was actually armed. The trooper was convinced the suspect was not that dangerous, and that he could be apprehended without resorting to tear gas, etc. Unfortunately that was not the case. He was shot once in the head as he climbed the staircase, and died later that same night. The suspect had been in possession of small caliber revolver.

Many years later, in the nice weather months, I used to ride my bike after work almost every evening. One of my routes took me by the local Catholic Cemetery, and from the road, one evening I happened to notice his grave as I rode by. The first time I saw his headstone, I instantly recognized the name, and it sent a chill down my back. His was a tragic mistake of letting his guard down due to just a moment of poor judgment and over confidence. As you said, an incident that had quite an effect on our small community.

RIP Sgt. Glen Hosier, Indiana State Police.

 

[S-W4EVER]

I sure hated going up staircases when I was a Police Officer.

 

[Shrek Of The Arctic]

Kinda funny how these old guns can hold so much history, Both good and bad.

My Father has an old Ruger Mk1. It used to belong to my Grandfather on my Mother's side. Sadly, he was a member of a bad group of men with pointy hats whose name shan't be said. The Ruger mk1 was used to shoot out tires of their victims so they could be properly assaulted. As time went by, "Pappy" had a change of heart, after a family was murdered by arson. They had committed the offense of opening a successful barbecue restaurant. Pappy had nothing to do with this particular event, but he was sickened by it. He turned FBI informant as a matter of conscience.

After he became an FBI Informant, there were a few attempts on his life. I have no idea what guns he used to get out of those scrapes, but I know he owned that same old Ruger mk1 the whole time, so...it's plausible.

Many years after all that tragedy and madness he traded it to my Father for some random Saturday night special. My Father used the heck out of it. He finished off wounded deer that had been hit by traffic, took care of small pests around the place, etc. My Mother worked evenings and nights as an RN. My Father got home from work for awhile...about an hour...hour and a half after I got off school. We fell into a routine where he would grab that pistol out and we would take turns shooting at hickory nuts, cans, twigs and whatnot from the steps of the front porch. We would talk about our days, talk about the future, etc. Those will always be cherished memories of time spent with my Father. Every time I handle that gun to this day, I think about the dark beginnings it had and the beautiful memories it was part of forming. Guns sure are peculiar that way. Sometimes you handle them, and it seems like the rich history adds a couple of pounds.

With regards to the revolver mentioned, I would imagine it's kept as a memoir of the sacrifice, duty, and love of a good man. Not as a souvenier to a murder.

 

[elpac3]

stair cases and long, narrow hallways were kill zones.

Hated them.

 

[Old cop]

Reminded me of my 1974 gunfight w/three armed robbery suspects while armed w/my issued 2" Colt Detective Special, serial #689642. I'm guessing the Colt was ultimately traded in for new S&W Model 10 snubs but I'm not sure. If anyone has this in their collection I'd appreciate a PM so I can get it back. Thx in advance, KH

 

[sjmjax]

Some years ago, I met an attorney that collected murder weapons.
A bit bizarre but otherwise seemed a normal and very successful attorney.
Had them mounted on a hallway wall in display cases. Each with a brief summary of the history.

 

[bgrafsr]

One of our Officers had a breakin, and his issued Model 66 was stolen. I had the gun entered into the NCIC database, and several months later I received a call from a Police Department that the gun had been recovered, but had been used in a homicide. They told me once the court case had been over, they would send the gun back to us.


A few months later I received the gun, and asked the Officer if he wanted his duty weapon back, and he stated no since it had been used in a homicide. I put the gun in with our extra weapons, and it was eventually issued to another Officer. I did not tell him the history of the weapon.

 

[murphydog]

Since the current owner of the gun in question is not here, I will put forth the opinion that it should be reversibly deactivated (no mainspring or something similar) and put into a shadow box or similar memorial.

 

[raljr1]

I sure hated going up staircases when I was a Police Officer.

A friend of ours was a local police detective. They were performing a drug raid on a house a part of a multi department taks force. Our friend entered the basement and arrested a suspect, started up the stairs
When he opened the door to the kitchen, a fellow officer saw a man with a gun coming up the stairs, shot, and killed him. Tragic mistake.

Detective Lynn Russell Sutter, Bethel Park Police Department, Pennsylvania

Robert

 

[pittpa]

A friend of ours was a local police detective. They were performing a drug raid on a house a part of a multi department taks force. Our friend entered the basement and arrested a suspect, started up the stairs
When he opened the door to the kitchen, a fellow officer saw a man with a gun coming up the stairs, shot, and killed him. Tragic mistake.

Detective Lynn Russell Sutter, Bethel Park Police Department, Pennsylvania

Robert

I knew his partner, as well as the officer that shot him. I live near the house and I drive by it most days. There was a race in his honor that I ran many times, but I never knew him.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Kinman]

I knew a Canadian attorney that had also served as a provincial magistrate which is similar to being a state supreme court judge. He had a collection of P0-8 Lugers that quite literally filled a wall in his lake cabin. Obviously they were collected before all of the "new" Canadian rules were put into effect or quite possibly because they were "collectible" he got a waiver, or even the fact that he was privileged he got away with it. Regardless, I was very intrigued as P0-8's have always been interesting to me. I was allowed to examine as many as I wanted and a few looked as if they had been through much hard use under terrible battlefield conditions. I pondered how many lives this firearm had taken, considering the horrific use of firearms on innocent people some branches of the German army committed.