Police Officer Louis Robert Toriello

Louis Robert Toriello

Officer Toriello was stabbed to death when he and another officer were attacked at Montgomery Avenue and Bouvier Street by a man who had just been released from the Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry. The other officer shot the suspect three times.

The 26-year-old suspect was recommitted at the mental hospital. On March 20, 1975, he was deemed competent to stand trial and was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. A few months after entering prison he was transferred to the Fairview Hospital for the criminally insane. On January 6, 1985, he was transferred to a nursing home due to very poor health.

Officer Toriello was a U.S Army veteran of WWII and had served with the Philadelphia Police Department for one month. He was survived by his wife, and 14-month old child.