Cadet Alfred E. Harrell

Alfred E. Harrell

Cadet Alfred Harrell was shot and killed by a sniper at 10:55 pm while working the gate at the Central Lockup.

The sniper fired a .44 caliber carbine from a field 280 feet away. Cadet Harrell was scheduled to end his shift only five minutes later.

Minutes after killing Cadet Harrell, the suspect shot Sergeant Edwin Hosli, who was searching a nearby warehouse after an alarm went off. Sergeant Hosli succumbed to his wounds on March 5, 1973.

On January 7, 1973, the suspect also shot and killed Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo, Patrolman Paul Persigo, and Patrolman Philip Coleman after setting fires and shooting at civilians in a hotel. The suspect, who was a member of the Black Panthers, was shot and killed by police, who used a Marine helicopter to fly over the hotel and fire at him.

Cadet Harrell had been employed with the New Orleans Police Department for less than one year. He is survived by his wife and 9-month-old son.

The Black Panther Party was a black nationalist and Marxist revolutionary political and militant organization active in the United States between 1966 and 1982. 

Members and former members of the group were responsible for the murders of over 20 law enforcement officers and the wounding of dozens more across the nation.

Please click here to visit all the law enforcement officers who have died as a result of the Black Panther Party's violent activism.