Honoring Our Fallen Agents
In the Line of Duty
Honoring our Fallen Special Agents
04/09/07
It was a tragic loss: the fatal shooting of Special Agent Barry Lee Bush last Thursday in New Jersey, apparently through an accidental shooting by another agent during the pursuit of three extremely dangerous bank robbers.
The entire FBI family mourns the loss of Agent Bush, who served our organization and the nation honorably for nearly two decades.
Since this tragic event, we have been asked about other FBI agents who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Here are the facts:
... Since our founding in 1908, 49 special agents have been killed in the line of duty. This total does not include agents Bush and Gregory J. Rahoi, whose cases are still under official review.
...Of the 49 losses, 35 agents have died as the direct result of “adversarial action”—either at the hand of an adversary or during the use of adversarial force. Five agents in this category have been killed during bank robbery investigations.
,,,The first agent to be killed as the result of hostile action was Edwin Shanahan on October 11, 1925. Shanahan was killed by a wanted automobile thief named Martin Durkin, who opened fire as the agent approached him in a Chicago parking garage. The Bureau and other law enforcement pursued Durkin across the west for weeks until he was apprehended.
...The last agent to lose his life as the result of adversarial action was Leonard W. Hatton, who was killed in the falling towers of the World Trade Center as he attempted to rescue victims of the 9/11 attacks. He is the only FBI agent to die at the hands of terrorists.
...Another 15 special agents have died on duty, but not as the direct result of confrontation with a criminal. Robert R. Hardesty, who died during a SWAT training exercise in June 2005, is the last agent to be added to this list.
Many stories. Bureau agents have lost their lives in violent gun fights with notorious criminals like Baby Face Nelson, who eventually died in a shootout with our agents. Still others have died in ambushes like the Kansas City Massacre in 1933…or in sudden attacks on FBI offices like the one that killed Jared Porter and Charles Elmore in El Centro, California, in 1986. Two agents died 21 years ago this week in Miami during a shootout with two robbery suspects, who also wounded five other agents. Agents have also been killed serving arrest warrants, chasing fugitives, and working undercover cases.
Together, these sobering facts and stories recall the sacrifice that each agent makes when putting on a badge and accepting responsibility for protecting the nation. As always, we honor all of our special agents who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They will never be forgotten.
Resources:
- FBI Hall of Honor
- Two agents killed on a 1943 secret mission