In the autumn of 1921, a 44-year-old White/Caucasian man named Albert Young, a dedicated Patrolman with the Wichita Police Department, met a tragic and untimely end. On the night of Saturday, November 5th, while walking his beat, he was ambushed in an alley near the intersection of West Eleventh Street and Lewellyn Street. In a sudden act of violence, he was shot and killed, his life cut short in the line of duty.
The investigation into Patrolman Young's murder quickly focused on a
notorious local gang leader. The suspect was identified as a man who commanded a criminal enterprise in the area. The motive behind the cold-blooded killing was believed to be a personal conflict, reportedly stemming from a mutual romantic interest where the woman had favored the company of the officer over the outlaw. This personal animosity is thought to have directly led to the fatal ambush.
The perpetrator did not remain at large for long, though his reign of terror continued for a few more weeks. Three weeks after murdering Patrolman Young, the same suspect was responsible for the deaths of two more officers, Patrolman Robert Fitzpatrick and Detective Charles Hoffman. The violent spree of the gang leader came to a definitive end when he was shot and killed by another officer in the aftermath of Detective Hoffman's murder, bringing a close to the search for Patrolman Young's killer. Albert Young was survived by his son and was laid to rest in Englewood Cemetery in Englewood, Clark County, Kansas.
