In the line of duty, Sergeant Edwin Hosli, a male officer with the New Orleans Police Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds he had sustained two months prior. His death was the result of a violent encounter with a sniper on December 31, 1972. On that day, Sergeant Hosli and his canine partner were responding to a warehouse alarm, a call that followed the tragic murder of Cadet Alfred Harrell by the same gunman.
As Sergeant Hosli entered one of the warehouses, the sniper opened fire,
striking the officer. The gunman, identified as Mark Essex, a member of the Black Panthers, managed to escape the immediate scene. This set off a city-wide manhunt that culminated in a deadly siege at a Howard Johnson's hotel on January 7, 1973. From a rooftop perch, Essex continued his deadly assault, killing Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo, Patrolman Paul Persigo, and Patrolman Philip Coleman.
The intense standoff concluded when law enforcement, utilizing a Marine helicopter to fly over the hotel, engaged and killed Essex. Though the immediate threat was neutralized, Sergeant Hosli bravely fought for his life for two more months before ultimately passing away from his injuries on March 5, 1973. A ten-year veteran of the force, he was survived by his wife and four children.
