Patrolman James M. Hannon

Syracuse Police Department

Date of Death: June 13, 1929

Shortly after midnight on May 1, 1929, Patrolman James Hannon discovered the back door of Walker’s Drug Store at 833 East Genesee Street ajar. After notifying his lieutenant from a nearby callbox, he returned to cover the door. Before help arrived, Harold Pickard emerged, and as Hannon ordered him to halt, a gunman inside the store fired twice—striking Hannon in the arm and chest. Pickard and the shooter fled to a waiting car. Wounded in the street, Patrolman Hannon managed to write down the license number of the getaway vehicle. Police later arrested Pickard at his home, where he confessed and identified William McKenna as the shooter. McKenna fled with the help of Buffalo gangsters but was captured months later in Boston under an alias. Patrolman Hannon survived for several weeks but died on the operating table on June 13, 1929.