Sergeant Edwin C. Hosli, Sr.

Edwin C. Hosli, Sr.

Sergeant Edwin Hosli succumbed to wounds received two months earlier when he was shot by a sniper who was also responsible for the murder of Cadet Alfred Harrell on December 31, 1972.

Minutes after the murder of Patrolman Harrell, Sergeant Hosli and his canine partner responded to nearby warehouses after an alarm went off. The sniper shot him as he entered one of the warehouses.

On January 7, 1973, the suspect shot Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo, Patrolman Paul Persigo, and Patrolman Philip Coleman from the hotel roof, killing them. The suspect, who was a member of the Black Panthers, was shot and killed by police, who used a Marine Helicopter to fly over the hotel and fire at the suspect.

Sergeant Hosli had served with the New Orleans Police Department for ten years. He was survived by his wife and four children. One of his sons retired from the New Orleans Police Department, and a grandson wears his badge number while serving with the agency.

The Black Panther Party was a black nationalist and Marxist revolutionary political and militant organization active in the United States between 1966 and 1982. 

Members and former members of the group were responsible for the murders of over 20 law enforcement officers and the wounding of dozens more across the nation.

Please click here to visit all the law enforcement officers who have died as a result of the Black Panther Party's violent activism.