Detective Duane Dean Winkelman

Duane Dean Winkelman

Detective Duane Winkelman was shot and killed while conducting a routine check of a rail yard in East St. Louis, Illinois.

During the check, he and his partner observed a group of men stealing from a boxcar. Detective Winkelman chased one of the subjects through several neighborhood backyards and into the parking lot of a tavern in the Rush City neighborhood. The subject opened fire on him in the parking lot, striking him in the chest with a blast from a shotgun.

Detective Winkelman was a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War. He had only served with the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Police Department for one month but had previously served with the Rock Island Railroad Police Department and Kansas City Police Department, Missouri.