On December 17, 1905, Bryon Merritt, a 29-year-old police officer with the Beaumont Police Department in Texas, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man. Officer Merritt, who was also a motorman, had brought his streetcar to a stop just in front of the suspect, who was walking along streetcar tracks carrying two pistols. When Officer Merritt ordered the man to consider himself under arrest, the suspect asked if Merritt had a gun.
Upon learning that Merritt did not, the suspect immediately raised one of his revolvers and fired at close range, striking Merritt in the chest.
Despite being shot, Officer Merritt managed to run about 20 steps before collapsing face-first at the side of the track. The suspect then fled to a nearby house and instructed the resident to take his wife and child and flee, as he intended to kill any officers coming after him and die with them. Deputy Constable Elijah Pevito, along with sheriff's deputies and other police officers, arrived at the scene and surrounded the house. When Deputy Constable Pevito approached the front of the house, a shot rang out, and he was seen staggering backward before falling to the ground with a fatal chest wound. The suspect emerged from the house with two revolvers still in hand and was ordered to drop his weapons. When he made a move to shoot the officers, one of the deputies fired a Winchester rifle, striking the suspect in the temple and killing him instantly.
Officer Bryon Merritt was survived by his wife, two small children, three brothers, and two sisters. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont. The incident was widely reported in newspapers at the time, and Officer Merritt was still commissioned as a Beaumont police officer when he was killed.
The suspect, whose identity was not disclosed in the sources, was killed during the confrontation with law enforcement, and no further arrests or litigations were mentioned in relation to Officer Merritt's death. The case was resolved with the death of the suspect, and no additional investigations were reported.
