Detective William Francis Mertz, Bloomfield Police Department, New Jersey

Detective William Francis Mertz

Bloomfield Police Department, New Jersey

End of Watch Saturday, December 18, 1915

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William Francis Mertz

Detective William Mertz and Detective Robert Shannon, of the East Orange Police Department, were shot and killed while they and two other officers attempted to arrest a murder suspect. The other two officers were wounded. Detective Mertz succumbed to his wounds three days after the shooting.

The 57-year-old suspect was apprehended in Newburg, New York, on August 27, 1916. Two months later he was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life.