In the summer of 1974, Fort Wayne Police Department Sergeant Kenneth William Hayden responded to a robbery in progress at a liquor store, a call that would ultimately set in motion a chain of events leading to his death fifteen years later. During the response on August 19, 1974, Sergeant Hayden, a male officer, sustained an accidental gunshot wound.
Despite the serious injury to his leg, he recovered and was able to return to his duties with the police department.
However, the initial injury would have long-lasting consequences. Eleven years after the shooting, while investigating a car accident, he fractured the same leg. It was during the subsequent surgery that doctors discovered a cancerous tumor, which necessitated the amputation of his leg. This forced him into medical retirement in 1986.
The cancer later metastasized to his lungs, and on September 12, 1989, at the age of 41, Master Sergeant Kenneth William Hayden died from complications stemming from the accidental gunshot wound he had suffered a decade and a half earlier. His death was officially attributed to the complications from this wound. Because the gunshot wound that led to his death was accidental, there were no suspects or arrests in connection with the incident.
