A history of the Edmonton police officers who have died while on duty

Since the Edmonton Police Department hired its first constable in 1892, 10 officers have been killed while on the job, according to the history section of the police service's website.

Until Thursday's double shooting, four on-duty Edmonton officers had been victims of homicides, all by shooting. Two officers perished in traffic collisions, one was electrocuted and one suffered a head injury during a mishap.

March 16, 2023

Const. Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30, were shot and killed in the Inglewood neighbourhood in the early morning hours while responding to a family dispute at an apartment complex. The suspect was a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have died from self-inflicted injuries.

June 8, 2015

Const. Daniel Woodall was fatally shot, and Sgt. Jason Harley was shot and injured, when they tried to forcibly enter the house of a suspect, Norman Raddatz. Woodall, 35, was a hate crimes investigator and Raddatz was wanted for criminal harassment. Raddatz's house later caught fire and his remains were found inside. A southwest Edmonton school is named in Woodall's honour.

June 25, 1990

Const. Ezio Faraone, 33, died instantly when a suspect shot him following a bank robbery. Faraone had spotted a vehicle potentially connected to the robbery, and saw only one suspect in the vehicle, which he followed into a dead-end street, near 124th Street and 116th Avenue – also in the Inglewood neighbourhood. Faraone left the vehicle with his gun drawn to approach the car. Jerry Crews, who was hidden in the vehicle's back seat, got out and shot the officer in the head and abdomen. A park next to the Alberta legislature grounds overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley is named in his honour and bears a statue of the officer helping a child.

July 2, 1959

Scottish immigrant Sgt. Malcolm Groat Finlayson Jack was a passenger in a police car that was en route to a fire alarm at the Capital City Box Company. A fire truck also en route to the call struck the vehicle at 93rd Street and 104th Avenue, and Jack was killed.

Nov. 24, 1956

Const. David Anthony Romano was driving across the Mill Creek Bridge en route to a complaint of a domestic dispute. A truck driving on the wrong side of the bridge collided with the vehicle, killing Romano instantly.

May 8, 1955

Const. George Donnelly and another officer responded to a call about two power lines downed during a windstorm at Saskatchewan Drive and 102nd Street. Donnelly was trying to secure a 4,160-volt wire that had snapped when he was electrocuted. 

Dec. 5, 1949

Const. George Rowley Vaughan was attempting to stop a stalled police vehicle at 106th Street and Princess Elizabeth Avenue when he fell, struck his head, and died 27 hours later.

Aug. 30, 1919

Const. William Leslie Nixon, 29, was walking the beat near 104th Avenue and 101st Street and approached a suspicious man near the Twin City Transfer Company. When Nixon questioned him, the man pulled a revolver from his jacket and shot Nixon in the side. The officer fired three distress shots before collapsing. He later regained consciousness in hospital and was able to describe the suspect before he died.

A man of similar description was a suspect in an attempted murder two days later. It led to Canada's first aerial police chase, when the police chief approached famed pilot Wilfred "Wop" May to help chase the suspect, who had boarded a train heading for the Rockies.

Oct. 17, 1918

Const. Frank Beevers was Edmonton's first officer killed in the line of duty when he was shot in the chest while investigating a robbery at the Northern Hotel at 97th Street and 102nd Avenue. Joseph Arthur Cameron was hiding in a hotel room after shooting a store owner, stealing $665 cash and a diamond ring. Cameron was sentenced to hang.

Beevers was buried in the Edmonton Cemetery, but without a permanent grave marker. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death, police held a ceremony in the cemetery in 2018 to install a permanent gravestone.

Sources: Edmonton Police Service, Edmonton Police Association, archives of the Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, and CBC.