Deputy Sheriff Alvin L. Vonsar

Alvin L. Vonsar

Deputy Sheriff Alvin Vonsar was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a suspect during a raid.

Deputy Vonsar, along with the sheriff and other deputies, had tracked four suspects involved in multiple robberies and a murder to a rooming house at 605 West Washington Street in Bloomington. At 3:00 pm, a raid was executed and while Deputy Vonsar was covering one suspect at gunpoint in the dining room, another suspect fired one shot through a partially-opened sliding door to an adjoining room, striking Deputy Vonsar through his chest.

The suspect whom Deputy Vonsar had been covering pulled a gun and was shot by the sheriff in the hand before being arrested. Deputy Vonsar was able to pursue the suspect who had shot him as he fled from the rear of the residence still firing his weapon, but was unable to chase him beyond the back porch before collapsing. Deputy Vonsar was transported to a hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

On April 22nd, 1935, the suspect who shot him was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life. His sentence was reduced to 60 years in 1949 for participating in a malaria treatment experiment during World War II. His parole was denied in 1953. His sentence was to end in 1969.

Deputy Vonsar had served with the McLean County Sheriff's Office for two years. He was previously an undersheriff in Berrien County, Michigan, and served with the United States Secret Service for many years assigned to the executive protection of four presidents. He was one of the first to reach the side of President Warren G. Harding when he suddenly died in San Francisco on August 2nd, 1923. Deputy Vonsar was survived by his wife and two daughters.