In the late hours of a summer night in Tucson, Arizona, a fire alarm pierced the air, signaling a blaze at a store on South Meyer Avenue. William H. Katzenstein, a 34-year-old man who served as both a Tucson Police Officer and the Assistant Chief of the Tucson Fire Department, was on patrol nearby and rushed to the scene. As hundreds of onlookers gathered, he worked to prevent looting and control the crowd.
At one point, he went to the Occidental Hotel to leave his gunbelt with the clerk before returning to assist in fighting the fire.
As Officer Katzenstein bent to open a fire hydrant at the corner of Broadway and Meyer, a man named Theodoro Elias moved up behind him. Elias, 22, had been stalking Katzenstein, seeking revenge for the arrest of his friend some five weeks earlier. Just hours before the fire, Elias had wagered with companions that Katzenstein would be dead before midnight. Seeing that the officer was unarmed, Elias fired his. 38 caliber handgun. The first shot struck Katzenstein in the ear, dazing him and causing him to fall. He managed to get back up, but Elias fired again, this time striking him just beneath the right eye. William H. Katzenstein collapsed and died in the arms of a doctor who was mere feet away.
Theodoro Elias was pursued from the scene and apprehended on the steps of the courthouse. He was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to death. However, the trajectory of justice took a turn. In 1906, Governor Joseph H. Kibbey commuted his sentence to life after doctors could not agree on his sanity. Later, in 1919, his life sentence was further commuted to 30 years, which made him eligible for parole in 1924. Officer Katzenstein, who had served with the Tucson Police Department for two years, was survived by his wife and daughter.
