KCPD Memorial Lest We Forget
Honoring the Fallen
Officer
Homer Riggle
Kansas City, MO Police Dept
EOW: Friday, February 28, 1913
Age: 37
DOB: 1876
Tour of Duty: 3 years
Cause: Gunfire
Suspect:

Officer Homer Riggle was shot and killed when responding to a burglary call.

On February 28, 1913 at 1:30 am, Motorcycle Officer Homer Riggle was sent from the No. 6, Flora Avenue Station to respond on a call that the Greene Saloon at the southwest corner of 19th Street and Brooklyn Avenue was being burglarized. Officer Riggle called the station by telephone fifteen minutes later and was advised of a report of two suspects fleeing westbound on 19th Street. Officer Riggle was unable to locate the suspects and telephoned in that he was returning to the station. Several minutes later gunfire was heard at 20th and The Paseo by officers in the station. Police officers ran from the station which lay only one block from the scene and discovered Officer Riggle lying wounded. Officer Riggle reported that he had seen two men running west and he had attempted to stop them when the men had began shooting at him. A crossing patrolman reported that he had seen one of the men jump on Officer Riggle's back and grabbed Officer Riggle's handgun. The men then separated and shot at Riggle, wounding him fatally. The sound of the gunfire brought out policemen from the nearby station, as well as residents of the area. The group - numbering approximately 100 - chased the two robbers for five miles across Kansas City, tracking them by their footsteps in new snow. The crowd eventually lost the suspects trail when they ran in to an area that was covered in many footprints. Officer Riggle died several minutes later at General Hospital of a gunshot would through the neck.

Officer Riggle, 37, became a policeman in 1909 and served as a motorcycle officer at the time of his death. His funeral service was held at 1217 E. 61st Street where Officer Riggle made his home. Interred: Pigeon Creek Cemetery, Washington, Pennsylvania, near the home of Officer Riggle's sister.

Article by Brent Marchant

Kansas City Police Memorial