Robbers murder Seattle Police Officer Emory R. Sherard on September 14, 1928.

HistoryLink.org Essay 3813 : Printer-Friendly Format

On September 14, 1928, armed robbers shoot and kill Seattle Police Officer Emory R. Sherard (1885-1928) in the University District.

Officer Sherard was walking his foot beat in the University District when he encountered Knute Lindberg, James McCourt, and Leo Burns robbing Jamieson's Drug Store located at 4759 University Way NE. One of the men shot at Sherard and he returned their fire. Sherard was hit in the neck and he managed to wound McCourt. The men fled in a car. Sherard died four hours later at Norwegian Hospital.

The robbers proceeded to rob four drug stores, two service stations, and a grocery store. Seattle Police launched a manhunt and arrested 60 men at the Blackstone Hotel located on 8th Avenue near Pine Street. From among that bag of prisoners, robbery victims identified Knute Lindberg as one of the robbers. A drug addict, Lindberg ultimately cooperated with officers.

Lindberg identified his confederates as McCourt and Burns and admitted to more than 30 offenses. A twist was added to the case when a cab driver volunteered that he had Lindberg as a fare shortly after Sherard was killed. Lindberg was accompanied by two women and Seattle Police Officer H. J. "Garrity" Nerein and the four visited numerous road houses in south King County and in Tacoma. Nerein was, at that time, assigned to the special squad that was searching for Sherard's killer. Nerein was suspended, but later reinstated onto the force.

Sources:
Michael D. Brasfield, "An Examination of the Historical and Biographical Material Pertaining to the Violent Deaths Involving Seattle Police Officers (1881-1980)" (Undergraduate thesis, University of Washington Library, 1980), 63.

By David Wilma, May 23, 2002

Travel through time (chronological order):
< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >

Related Topics: Crime |

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.