Patrolman Leo Grant

Leo Grant

Patrolman Leo Grant was shot and killed while attempting to arrest three convicted murderers who had escaped from the Will County Jail in Joliet.

The three convicts forced a cab driver to drive them to Chicago where they were intercepted at the intersection of 98th Street and Ewing Avenue and were forced to the curb by Patrolman Grant and two other officers. In a resulting gunfight, Patrolman Grant was killed and another officer and the cab driver were seriously wounded. One of the suspects was mortally wounded, one was captured, and the other suspect escaped.

The three suspects along with three other murderers were in the Will County Jail awaiting their execution for having killed Deputy Warden Peter N. Klein of the Illinois Department of Corrections on May 5th, 1926. The suspect who was captured after Patrolman Grant was killed was hanged for murdering Warden Klein on July 15th, 1927.

Patrolman Grant was a United States Army WWI veteran and had served with the Chicago Police Department for over four years. He was survived by his wife and son.