Remembering the Rochester police officers killed in the line of duty

Staff Reports
·2 min read

Sixteen Rochester police officers have been killed in the line of duty, including the second in eight years killed by gunfire.

The officers and the dates they were killed:

  • Louis Gommenginger, July 4, 1876.

  • William P. O'Neil, Dec. 30, 1888.

  • Charles E. Twitchell, Aug. 7, 1910.

  • Frank Ford, May 29, 1912.

  • James Upton, March 19, 1919.

  • William A. O'Brien, May 2, 1919.

  • John Mallett, June 22, 1931.

  • Victor Woodhead, Nov. 17, 1932.

  • James T. Volz, Sept. 15, 1942.

  • Harold V. Shaw, Dec. 11, 1959.

  • Leo L. Kerber, Dec. 10, 1961.

  • John J. Jenkins, Jan. 3, 1979.

  • Ronald J. Siver, Aug. 19, 1984.

  • Thomas W. Clark, Jan. 17, 2006.

  • Daryl Pierson, Sept. 3, 2014.

  • Anthony Mazurkiewicz, July 21, 2022.

Mazurkiewicz, a tactical unit officer, was fatally shot on Bauman Street on Rochester's northeast side shortly after 9:15 p.m. July 21. A second officer and a civilian female also were injured by gunfire.

Prior to Mazurkiewicz's slaying, Pierson and Shaw were the last police officers to be killed by gunfire.

Pierson was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend a suspect just after 9:30 p.m. Sept. 3, 2014.

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Shaw interrupted a burglary on Ambrose Street around 9:30 p.m. Dec. 11, 1959, and was shot. Shaw, 36, was the father of two.

Of the officers who died since between Shaw and Pierson:

  • Kerber died in a traffic accident.

  • Jenkins died in a three-wheel scooter accident.

  • Siver drowned while trying to recover a body in Irondequoit Bay.

  • Clark died of a heart attack during an agility test.

The Rochester Police Department Memorial outside of the Public Safety Building on Exchange Boulevard honors officers "who gave their lives in performance of their duty while serving this community."

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: How many Rochester NY police officers were killed in the line of duty?