Seattle Police Officer Fred D. Carr dies from friendly fire in a shootout on February 25, 1973.

  • By David Wilma
  • Posted 5/18/2002
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 3781
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On February 25, 1973, Officer Fred D. Carr (1947-1973) dies from shots fired by fellow officers in a shootout with a man who is angry over losses at gambling. Officer Carr is the first African American officer of the Seattle Police Department to die in the line of duty.

Officer Carr and other officers had responded to a call of a man armed with a .410 gauge shotgun who was angry at losing money in a card game. Carr led other officers down a hallway in search of the man when the man burst out of a closet and fired a shot. The officers returned fire and both Carr and the suspect were fatally wounded. Carr was hit by shots fired by the other officers.


Sources:

Rae Anna Victor, Century of Honor: Excellence in Washington State Law Enforcement (Bloomington, IN: 1st Books, 2000), p. 102; Michael D. Brasfield, "An Examination of the Historical and Biographical Material Pertaining to the Violent Deaths Involving Seattle Police Officers (1881-1980)," (Undergraduate thesis, University of Washington Library, 1980), 109.


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