In the late hours of a Friday in Greenville, South Carolina, Sergeant Oliver Gunnels, a 62-year-old veteran of the Greenville Police Department with 26 years of service, was dutifully patrolling the area around the railroad station at Augusta and Vardry Streets. His attention was drawn to a man behaving suspiciously, who then entered a bathroom at the station.
As a seasoned officer, Gunnels followed his instincts and went to investigate the individual.
Shining his flashlight into the dimly lit bathroom, the Sergeant was met with sudden and unexpected violence. The suspicious man, without warning, opened fire with a. 22 caliber pistol. A bullet struck Sergeant Gunnels, inflicting a fatal wound. The shooter immediately fled the scene, leaving the dedicated officer to succumb to his injuries on that tragic day of February 17, 1911.
The assailant's freedom was short-lived. He was later apprehended in Augusta, Georgia, after committing another heinous act – the murder of a railroad conductor. However, the due process of law was not to be the final chapter in this story. Before he could be formally tried and sentenced for his crimes, the man was forcibly taken from the Augusta Jail by an enraged mob. This vigilante group, incensed by the senseless killing of both the officer and the conductor, took the law into their own hands and lynched the suspect.
